


A New Kind Of Experiment

by ShadeCrawler



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Blood, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Merman!Logan, Merman!Patton, Merman!Procrastination, Merman!Remy, Merman!Roman, More Characters to be revealed!, Needles, Panic Attacks, Science Experiments, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-10-26 22:16:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 30,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17754488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadeCrawler/pseuds/ShadeCrawler
Summary: Living in an abusive home, Virgil doesn't think life can get any worse.But after running away and meeting a stranger by the beach with a tail that is decidedly not human, his life gets a whole lot stranger.





	1. The Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This story is being edited and proofread by @sanders-trash-4ever over on Tumblr! They are an amazing friend of mine and they helped a lot!

Virgil could hear his mother distantly screaming after him as he raced away from the house, barely registering his father’s loud cursing and the slamming of the front door. He haphazardly sprinted down the path that led to the beachfront, only realizing that it was raining when the adrenaline started to fade. He stared up into the pouring rain, feeling it mix with the blood streaming from his forehead and trickle down his cheeks. The darkness of the storm surrounded him, and his mind was filled with the thought that this was one of the worst times he could have chosen to run away.

But he kept moving. He couldn’t go home. He just couldn’t.

The path was wet and slippery with no railing to help Virgil go down. It went directly down the hill from where his parent’s beach house proudly sat. Virgil wanted to slow down and take a second to just breathe and maybe even sit down because his head was really hurting now. But his heart was beating so fast and it was like a part of him was screaming that he couldn’t stop, his mom and dad would find him, they’d be so angry so Virgil had to move, he had to move **_fast_ **.

He yelped in surprise when his bare foot slipped on a wet stone and he went careening sideways. A scream caught in his throat and he just barely managed to throw out his arms to catch himself before his head hit the rocky ground. Virgil sucked in a breath and pushed himself back up. He back was aching and the cut on his forehead was really throbbing. But Virgil couldn’t stop. He had to keep moving, keep running. He stumbled down the path, a little slower this time, and almost broke out into sobs when he got to the bottom of the hill and the ocean was stretched out in front of him.

Virgil bit back his tears and stumbled his way onto the sand and to a large rock that was just close enough to the ocean so that incoming waves brushed against his feet. Virgil collapsed onto the rock and gasped for breath, pulling his knees up to his chest. The rain was letting up a little so it was a little trickle instead of the heavy downpour it was just a few minutes before.

His breath shook, and he curled a little tighter around himself. This was only a temporary solution and Virgil knew it. So did his parents. He’d have to walk back up to his house eventually and they’d be there waiting patiently for him.

It wasn’t that Virgil wanted to stay at home. He’d loved nothing more than to start a new life somewhere far away from where his parents would never find him. Where he didn’t need to worry about whether he’d be allowed to eat the next day or walk on eggshells every second of every minute of every hour of every day.

But, he couldn’t. He didn’t know anyone outside of his family and every aunt, uncle, or cousin he had would turn him into his family instantly. And, despite his parents being abusive, he was the only son and heir they had. He was the one who would be taking over the family business when he turned 18. They kept Virgil under their thumb. If he disappeared, then they’d have police officers search the entire damn country to find him. Virgil would never be free from them.

Virgil shivered as a cold breeze cut through the air. His thin clothes were stuck to his skin and, despite being the best money could buy, they did nothing to protect him from the chilly air. He sneezed and wiped away a trail of blood from the bridge of his nose. The sluggish flow of blood had started to slow and Virgil was pretty sure he would be okay. His father hadn’t knocked him to the floor that hard and from what Virgil could feel by gently feeling his forehead, wincing and whimpering the entire time, the cut wasn’t that deep.

He set his chin on his knees and watched the ocean. The waves were really gentle that night and the rain landing on the water made a soothing sound. Virgil sniffed and wiped at his forehead, smearing the blood which had stopped bleeding entirely now. _‘I should enjoy this while I can’_ , he thought. _‘This will be the last time I’ll be allowed out of the house for a long while.’_

Virgil sighed and looked out as far as he could. Even though his body felt like one big bruise, it calmed him to just look out at the waves. It was calming, the colour of the water soothed him, there was a person out there staring at him-

Virgil jerked up and pushed himself off the rock. Was he seeing something? Was his head injury making him hallucinate? He rubbed at his eyes and took a step closer. Sure enough, there was a person bobbing out in the distance staring right at him.

Virgil couldn’t make out what the person looked from where he was but it was easy to see them staring right at him. He stumbled a little closer to the water and swayed a little. Why was there someone swimming near his house? There wasn’t any other houses out here for miles and miles. Did their boat crash or something? Were they hurt?

The person stared at Virgil for a few more seconds before they started to swim toward him. They were swimming a little strangely, ducking under the water and coming back up, sort of like a dolphin. Virgil felt dumbfounded and confused. Who was this person?

The person pushed themself up on one of the rocks that were placed waist deep in the water. Virgil still couldn’t see them very well, but he could make out their upper body now at least. They were wearing a dark blue sleeveless shirt and had dark blond curly short hair. There was a little name tag on their shirt but Virgil couldn’t see what it said.

Who was this?

Virgil took a shaky step forward, legs wobbling under his weight. “Hello?” The person was fixated on him, studying him curiously. They frowned in concern, presumingly at the blood smeared on Virgil’s face. Virgil blinked and waved at him. “Hello?!”

The person perked up and waved happily at him. It was really hard to make out any distinct facial features or even body shape really. But they had such a happy and safe vibe to them that Virgil felt himself relax a little. They pointed behind Virgil and he looked back to see that they were pointing at his house.

“Uh, yeah,” Virgil confirmed. “That’s my house.” The person shook their head and pointed more insistently. Virgil glanced at them in confusion. “Um, I don’t know what you’re trying to say here, dude. Sorry.”

His new friend huffed and beckoned Virgil closer to them. Virgil hesitated, not sure if going near a stranger when he was hurt was a good idea, and the person just gestured a little harder.

Virgil decided to take a chance, and he walked forward, wading into the water. After all, what was the worst thing that could happen? They kill him? His parents were probably going to kill him sooner or later anyway so no big deal.

It was a lot easier to see what the person looked like up close. They were tanned with freckles spread across their nose. There were some kind of goggles on them that did nothing to hide the bright blue eyes behind them. Virgil was so focused on their eyes, he didn’t notice their arms until they were being used to pull him into the stranger’s lap.

Virgil gasped and jerked forward. All of the emotions of not really caring what was going to happen to him immediately fled and he was left with pure instinct and will to live. But his arms were being pinned to his sides and the person was just so strong. Virgil tried to push himself off the stranger’s lap using his legs but the stranger wrapped something heavy around them. Something wet, something smooth but almost slimy at the same time. He looked down, expecting to see the bottom half of a wetsuit,

And his mind went blank.

Wrapped around his legs, was a tail. An actual, fucking, mermaid’s tail. With light blue and grey scales on it and thin, blue fins at the bottom.

“What the fuck?” Virgil whispered in shock. He jumped when the stranger starting chirping and whistling in his ear. Were they trying to speak to him? Their nose was buried in Virgil’s hair and when the stranger drew back they whistled almost sadly. “Let me go!” Virgil pleaded, straining his, admittedly weak, muscles. “Please, I’m scared!”

The chirping grew soft, like the mermaid (merman? merperson?) was trying to soothe him but the grip didn’t loosen. Instead, he was just shifted so the merperson was holding him with one arm and was digging around in the little pouch they had around their waist that Virgil could feel digging into his back. He tilted his head back and a strangled gasp escaped him when he saw four needles held firmly in the Merperson’s hands.

“Let me go!” Virgil screamed. “Let me go!” He jerked and struggled in the Merperson’s grasp. “Somebody help me!” He screamed and wailed, not that it did him any good. His parents’ house was far enough away that they wouldn’t be able to hear him and there were no other houses around for miles.  

The Merperson didn’t stop him from making a racket. They kept a steady stream of soft and gentle chirping and whistling in Virgil’s ears as they tilted Virgil’s head so they had access to the veins on the side of his neck. They squeezed Virgil, almost tenderly, before pushing the first needle into Virgil’s neck.

Virgil’s vision blurred and his muscles went limp almost immediately. He felt like someone was stuffing cotton in his head making it hard to think or speak. He slumped back into the Merperson’s chest. Virgil could barely feel the webbed fingers running through his hair or the other three needles being injected into him.

Another hand settled on Virgil’s knee and he blinked sluggishly. His vision cleared a little, and he saw that he wasn’t alone with the Merperson anymore. There were about eight more of the Merpeople surrounding them now, all in dark green shirts instead of the dark blue one that the Merperson who was still holding Virgil was wearing.

The one with the hand on Virgil’s knee was chirping something and the one holding Virgil whistled sharply back. Virgil watched numbly as the Merperson in front of him gestured at the others and the other seven dove into the water, reemerging pulling something behind them.

His eyes slipped closed and his last thought was wondering what all these Mermaids were doing with that big tank.

* * *

 

* * *

 

“How did this happen, Patton?” Remy, the Merman Explorer in charge of the section of water they were currently in, looked over at Patton with a bemused expression on his face. “I thought this was a field observation only. No scientist has actually ever studied a human in a closed setting before.”

Patton sighed and his tail twitched, splashing water behind them. “I meant it to stay a field observation, Rem, I really did! But,” the field scientist spread his hands helplessly, “he was hurt, Remy! And once I got a whiff of him and I smelt how scared he was I couldn’t exactly leave him! He must’ve been abandoned by his pod!”

“Abandoned?” Remy reeled back in shock. “But he’s practically a guppy!” He gestured to where the human was being transferred to a portable tank.

Patton nodded sadly. “He is. But he was all alone on the beach and hurt! He had to have been abandoned! His parent’s den had all it’s lights on and their scent is all over him and not in a good way! They had to have hurt him and then abandoned him!”

Remy sighed and buried his face in his hands. “Okay. Okay, okay, okay.” He smacked his hands against his cheeks and straightened up. His own green tail was swishing through the water anxiously and in frustration. “Okay, I can make this work. The higher-ups are gonna assign some lab scientists to study your baby human here but, in the meantime, he can stay at the Explorer’s base. We got some stolen oxygen tanks we can use and we’ll feed him some fish we catch. Did you give him the shots that will make sure the ocean won’t kill his fragile human body? For the water pressure and temperature?”

Remy waited for Patton to confirm before he glanced back at his small team of Explorers. “We’re Bringing the Human to our base,” he ordered. “I want him looked after and clothes found for him. I ain’t having him staying in the ones he got on. The kid will freeze within the hour.”

He turned back to Patton and gave him a sympathetic smile. “It’s too bad you can’t study him, Pattycake. I know you really grew fond of him during this observation.”

A pang of sadness went through Patton and he looked away, staring behind Remy at the little human curled up in his tank. One of the Explorers was being held up over the water by her team and leaning into the tank’s opening, trying her best to spread an Atlantean blanket over his form. “Well, I just hope that whoever gets to study him appreciates him a whole heck of a lot.”

Remy clapped a webbed hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure they will, Patty. Now,” he turned back to his team, tail snapping through the water with authority, “let’s get that tank closed up and move out! I want that kid’s tank put in our communication room and someone watching him every hour until those science nerds can get all prepared!”

“Yes, sir!” His team snapped salutes at him and they all split up, the woman Explorer fell back into the water and let her tail regain her balance for him. Remy pulled a remote out of his belt and pressed a button, closing up the tank’s opening.

Patton forced himself to look away from the kid in the tank. “I should get going too. My higher ups will want a detailed report on what happened here.” Patton sighed and pushed himself further into the water with Remy following close behind. The team of Explorers were pulling the tank along by the bars on the sides.

Patton hummed, and a smile broke out on his face. “But, even if this isn’t the best situation ever, this is groundbreaking! A Human is going to Atlantis! Isn’t this exciting, Remy?”

Remy chuckled and the two dove into the ocean water. “Sure is, Patton. I bet those Scientists are going to freak out about their new subject.”


	2. Getting Started

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mer Scientists, Roman and Logan, wait anxiously for their new Human Subject to be delivered into their care.

Roman couldn’t take his eyes off the door. His tail was swishing through the water in a mix of excitement and nerves, his red and gold scales glistening in the water, and he just couldn’t stop tapping at the scales on his hip. Logan glanced at him and rolled his eyes fondly from where he was finishing up a few last minute forms on his pad for their new observation.

The two scientists had just finished going over and getting used to the lab they were going to be working in. Their new workstations were a lot smaller than their old ones to accommodate the giant tank in the center. It was hooked up with oxygen tanks with several others in another room for the Human they would be studying.

“You need to calm down,” the older Merman advised him. When he glanced at Logan, Roman couldn’t help but notice that his goggles were strapped around his head so tightly that there was going to be a red mark when he took them off later. “From the reports from the explorers who found him, the Human has been in quite a state since he’s been brought here. We don’t need to excite him even further.”

Roman huffed and crossed his arms. “I’m perfectly calm, I’ll have you know!” He looked away at Logan’s knowing look. “Okay, maybe I’m a little excited. But can you honestly say you aren’t too?” He waved his hands and grinned at his partner. “We’re going to be studying a Human! A real-life Human!”

A smile broke out on Logan’s face and he chuckled. His dark blue tail was twitching in excitement. “Of course I am. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. Which is why we must be very careful, especially during the initial stages of this study. It wouldn’t do for the Human to become overwhelmed.” Roman sighed dramatically but nodded. He looked away from the door and picked up his own pad, scrolling through the report on the Human. Logan was right, of course. They both had to wait for their subject to be delivered to them as patiently as they could.

But that didn’t stop Roman from glancing up every few seconds to look at the door.

An hour later, there were still no Human and even Logan was getting antsy. “When did they say they would be getting here?” He asked. Logan set his pad down in one of the drawers built into the walls and closed it firmly.

Roman drummed his fingers against his own pad. “They were supposed to here an hour ago,” he replied. Roman huffed and tossed his pad on the floor gently, watching it float down. “It’s one Human! What could they taking them so long?”

“Perhaps a complication with the Human,” Logan suggested. “They are bringing him all the way across the city. And, Humans are rather fragile creatures. Shots had to be given to him so the pressure down here wouldn’t crush him and to keep his temperature up, after all. There may have been other things that weren’t thought of that needed to be done.”

Roman shook his head in frustration. “But not even a message? What if it’s something we need to be aware of? Something that needs to be done?”

Logan drifted close to him and placed a hand on his arm. “I’m sure that if it was something serious then we’d be notified.” The two of them looked at the sounds of someone outside their lab. “See?” Logan grinned and squeezed Roman’s arm excitedly. “That must be them now.”

Roman perked up as the door opened and two Merpeople he recognized as explorers swam through, pulling a portal tank behind him. He went to greet them, trying to focus on them and not the little Human huddled in the corner of his tank.

“Hey,” Roman clasped arms with the nearest explorer. He glanced at the tags on their shirts which told not their names but their pronouns. The one he had just greeted used them/they while the other used he/him. The Explorer gave a tired smile and sighed.

“Sorry about the wait,” they apologized wearily. “It took forever to get the Human in the tank. He just wouldn’t get in there.”

Logan didn’t even pretend to care about the other Merpeople, drifting closer to the tank and lowering himself so him and the Human were eye level with each other. “He was most likely scared,” he said softly. “You were moving him from a facility he had probably gotten used to in the short time he had been there.”

The Human certainly looked scared, Roman thought. The poor thing was shaking and wouldn’t meet any of their eyes. His bangs were dyed a bright purple and they hid most of his upper face. Roman hummed and grinned when he saw that the Human was wearing the soft blue clothes his mother had found adrift a few years ago and had passed down to Roman. Roman had handed over his treasure to the explorers when he had heard there was an actual Human in Atlantis and that he was going to need clothes to wear.

“Yeah, well,” the other explorer started hooking a tube up between the portable one and the one that was going to be the Human’s new home, “I can’t say that I’m upset about handing him over to you. Dumb thing wouldn’t stop wailing the entire time he was at our base.”

Roman frowned but it was Logan who turned around and glared at the explorer. “You,” he hissed, “are speaking about a very intelligent creature who was taken from his habitat. He is most likely terrified out of his mind and it should be expected for him to be showing his distress in the only way he feels he is able to.”

The Explorer rolled his eyes and waved a hand dismissively. “Look, Humans’ aren’t smart. They’re stupid creatures that are stumbling their way through simple things that we figured out thousands of years ago.” He gestured at the quivering Human. “Look at it. Does that look like a thing that can hold intelligent conversations? No, it looks like an animal! Why do you even care, you’re going to be studying it! Cutting it open!”

“He looks,” Roman said tensely, “like a young Human who’s scared. Yes, we’re going to be studying him. But that doesn’t mean we’re not going to be treating him like the smart Human he is. Humans may not be as smart as us, but that doesn’t mean they’re animals or deserve to treated like ones. And we won’t be cutting him open.”

Logan nodded, not taking his eyes off the Human. “Roman is right. We’re going to be observing the Human’s intelligence and his nature. The field scientist that found the human has already taken and sent blood over to be studied but we already have the bones and corpses of many drowned Humans so we know how their bodies work. This entire study is to understand Humans and how they act more. Perhaps even see if Humans are able to learn our language.”

The explorer laughed and backed away from the tanks, tube all set up and drained of water for the Human to crawl through. He pressed a button on a remote he dug from his shirt pocket, which he passed to Roman, opening both tanks up to each other and gestured at the Human. “Really? Alright, then. Try to get the Human in its tank if it’s so smart.”

Roman looked over at the Human who hadn’t made any move to crawl into the bigger tank. He just stayed curled up in the portable one, picking at his light blue shirt.

The other Explorer sighed in frustration and rapped sharply on the tank before they could be stopped. The Human flinched and covered his ears with his hands. “Come on then! Go through!” They went to knock again but Logan caught their wrist and hissed at them.

“Are you attempting to scare him even further?” He hissed, showing off his sharp teeth.

The explorer flinched back and pulled their wrist away. “I’m  _ trying _ to get him to go through. We don’t have all day here.”

“Actually,” Roman interjected smoothly before Logan could start speaking again, “ _ we _ do. It is our job after all. However, you and your partner’s job ended the moment you dropped him off, right? The portable tank is ours to use now, correct?”

The two Explorers glanced at each other and the first one nodded slowly. “Yes,” he said, “I suppose. But,”

“Excellent!” Logan cut him off and started ushering both explorers out of the lab. “Thank you so much for delivering the Human to the lab. We can take care of things from here.” The two explorers protested but were no match for the larger Merman. They were pushed out of the lab and the door slid closed behind them, leaving Roman, Logan, and the trembling Human alone in the lab.

Roman sighed and smiled approvingly at Logan. “Good job getting them out of there. We’d never get any work done with them freaking the kid out every few seconds.”

“Indeed.” Logan drifted down just above the floor of the lab so he was floating on his belly with his tail swishing slowly. He watched the Human curiously. Logan hummed and beckoned Roman closer. “He’s rather small for a Human his age. What did the report say his age was again?”

“17,” Roman reported, snatching his pad up off the floor and scrolling down to look at the information field researchers were able to get before the Human was taken. He settled next to Logan, ignoring the Human for the time being. “Says that from what the researchers could understand, he’s about 17, maybe a little younger or older, and uses the pronouns he/him.”

“I’m surprised they were able to find the Human’s pronouns at all,” Logan mused. “They’ve made progress with the Humans’ languages?”

“Not much. But, they were able to figure out what sounds they used for which pronouns in this Human’s language,” Roman explained. “Took a long while but they did it.”

“I suppose that brings the total of Human words we know up from five words to a few more,” Logan chuckled.

Roman smirked and kept reading. “It also says here,” he paused and frowned, “it says that they meant to keep the observation in the Humans’ habitat but they found this one abandoned by his pod on the beach with several wounds. So they brought him here for a closed study.”

A confused frown made its way onto Logan’s face at that piece. “Abandoned by his pod? But why,” he shook his head. “A question for a later date. Any injuries that we should be aware of?”

“No, the field team took care of them all.” Roman set the pad down and drifted a little closer so he was in the same position as Logan. “But, I think we should get back to the matter at hand. How in Tartarus are we getting him in the tank?”

Logan thought on that for a few moments. “I don’t know. We can’t exactly tell him to go through since he won’t understand us. And I doubt that he could be tricked. But, perhaps,” Roman waited for Logan to continue but the older Merman didn’t. Instead, he started to pat the floor gently and making little chirping sounds like one would do with a newborn Mer.

It took a few seconds, but the Human glanced up to see what Logan was doing. He froze and shrunk back into his corner, shoulder hunching up. Logan gave the Human a rare smile and pointed towards the primary tank. The Human followed Logan’s finger and then looked back at Logan. He hugged himself and shook his head. He raised a shaking hand and pointed at the door where he came from. His face screwed up into a scowl and jabbed his finger at the door.

“I’m sorry,” Logan said sympathetically. “I cannot understand what you are attempting to convey.”

The Human’s scowl deepened and spoke. Roman jumped a little because, how could what was coming out of this child’s mouth be words? Merpeople language was just so different than any Human language. Merpeople spoke in chirps and whistles while Humans seemed to, mainly, use these strange sounds that differed from language to language. It was so weird but so interesting at the same time!

“I know you are most likely frustrated and concerned,” Logan continued, like the Human could understand him. “But it will help us greatly if you could cooperate.” He pointed at the tank again. “That tank is much more comfortable than this smaller one.” The Human leaned forward a little bit and looked inside the bigger tank.

There was a sleeping pod inside near the far wall of the tank along with a few Human blankets that had been dried and folded. A few toys that teenage Mers used was going to be put in there too to keep the Human preoccupied when Roman and Logan were busy once the Human got a little used to them. The floor of the tank had been replaced with a soft material that would be easy for the Human to walk on with bare feet. Roman didn’t even want to think about how the tank was made or how many magic users had to go in to help put things in after the tank had been made and drained of water.

He pushed those thoughts out of his head and waved at the Human, gaining his attention. “Logan’s right, little Prince,” Roman said softly. He set his tab on the floor. “You could relax in there while we get set up and it will be a lot comfier for you.” He smiled encouragingly and pointed toward the tube. “We just need you to crawl through there.”

The Human glanced back and forth between the two scientists before he pushed himself up into a crouch. He watched the scientists carefully as he slowly left the portable tank and crawled through the tube. He landed on his feet with a little, “oof” and seemed to fight for balance after so long without standing.

Logan straightened up with a grin. “And they said Humans couldn’t understand simple things.” he snatched the remote from Roman’s hand and closed the opening between the tanks. The Human was too preoccupied with exploring his new space to notice Roman and Logan dismantling the tube and setting the portable tank to the side.

Roman looked over at Logan with a wide grin on his face. “Ready to get started.” Logan mirrored his grin and nodded. The two looked over at their newest observation.

“Of course.”


	3. Making Music

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: It’s time for Logan and Roman to give the Human his first test.

Roman hummed under his breath softly as he went over the first test for his and Logan’s new subject. It was the day after the Explorers had delivered the young Human to them and while they had given the Human the first day to get used to his new space, it was time to start the actual observation and tests.

Roman circled the tank with the test inside. It was a much larger tank than the Human’s primary one since it was meant to be used for the human to exercise and run tests in. There was a soft floor like the kind inside the human’s primary tank and the first test had been placed inside right in the center.

“Thanks for the help, Nate,” Roman glanced back at his friend gratefully. The ravanette Merman grinned back at him from where he was leaning against the wall with his bright red tail swishing lazily behind him.

“No problem,” the magic user said. “Was happy to help. How else were you going to get that thing in there?” Roman laughed and nodded in agreement.

While Atlantis was a city of science, magic had never been forgotten. It was rare for any Atlanteans to be born anymore with the gift but there were always massive celebrations to those babies who had it.

Nate just happened to be one of those babies. He was 26 now and an expert in his field of magic that just happened to be Molecular Teleportation which made him a huge asset for experiments and observations like this one. He had been the one who had teleported all of the water out of the human’s tank once it had been built and was in charge of putting the tests in the proper place in the tank. Food and the human himself could be brought in and out using tubes and a small box attached to the side of the tank that opened on both sides.

Nate pushed away from the wall and swam to the door. “Well, if that’s all I’m needed for, I’ll be leaving. I don’t want to disturb your, uh, test.”

Roman waved at him, only half paying attention, more focused on looking over the tank one last time. “I’ll see you, Nate!” He watched Nate swim out of the room from the corner of his eye. He looked down at the checklist he was going through on his pad and grinned. All down. All that was left was for Logan to bring the Human.

Roman settled down on the floor and let his tail curl around him. Finally, they could get started. They gave the human the day before to get used to his new surroundings and get an early start on the study the next day. And here Roman was now, at 6 o’clock in the morning, waiting for Logan to finish giving the human his food and getting him into his portable tank.

Roman scratched at the bright red scales on his waist, right under his shirt and right above his tail. He wondered what the Human thought about his tail. After all, Roman thought in slight disgust and pity, Humans had legs not tails. Weird tails split into two that they used to walk around on land. And they didn’t even have scales! It had to be such a treat for their Human to be in the presence of Roman’s beautiful tail! And Logan’s own dark blue tail was nothing to sneeze at either, of course.

Roman perked up and pushed himself up from the floor when the door slid open and Logan swam in, pulling the Human’s tank in behind him. “It’s about time!”

Logan gave him a dry look. “I’m sorry but the Human was having a fit. He refused to eat his food until I had him give it back to me and eat a small piece myself.”

Roman snorted in amusement. “You ate cooked fish?”

Logan nodded and scrunched his face. “Yes, unfortunately. I had to show him that it was safe to eat though I wish there had been another way besides eating it.”

Roman dissolved into loud laughter and Logan glared at him. “If you could stop laughing at my misfortune,” he hissed, “I’d be greatly appreciative. You’ll scare the human.”

Roman’s laughter immediately stopped as he took in the little human watching him in trepidation. Roman winced and nodded. “Right, right. Sorry about that.” He turned to the larger tank where the tube was halfway set up and started to attach it to the portable one. “Help me with this, will you?”

With both scientists working, it didn’t take long for the tube to be set up and drained. Roman pulled Logan back to the wall to watch. Logan grabbed his own pad from a half-open drawer and opened up a document to write up a report.

The human crawled through the tube and slid down into the large tank. He seemed happy to be out of the portable tank and bounced a little on the soft floor. The Human looked around and glared at Logan and Roman when he saw them watching him.

Logan huffed out a laugh. “He looks like your guppy cousin when he glares like that,” he whispered to his partner.

Roman thought about the six-year-old Merperson Elliot being raised by his other cousin Emile and grinned. “They do look alike, don’t they?” He swallowed back a laugh when the human turned on his heel and crossed his arms petulantly. “I wonder when he’s going to find the test?”

Logan hummed. “Right now, it seems.” The human had looked over at the toy that Nate had teleported inside the tank. It was a toy that was square in shape and was a shade of silver. It was a toy for small Mers and it was perfect for the first test.

The human approached the toy hesitantly. He circled it and stared at the object, like it was something a lot more fascinating than a simple toy, like a new and beautiful treasure. Which it probably was to him.

Logan leaned forward and watched intently as the Human crouched down and picked up the toy, bringing it up to his face. Roman made a small sound of interest and the human must’ve heard because he gave them both a sharp look and turned so his back was facing them.

The two Mermen quickly swam around the tank so they could get a good look at the human’s face. The human was staring down at the toy in frustration and curiosity. Roman wished he could tell what the human was thinking right now. When the human pressed down on one of the side and a small musical note came out, the human yelped and flung the toy away from him. It hit the side of the tank with a thud and fell to the ground.

Logan was typing out notes frantically on his pad, glancing back and forth from his pad and the human. Roman was gripping his own pad tightly. The human was staring at the toy fearfully with his hands close to his chest. He didn’t make a move for about a minute, but then slowly stepped close to the toy. He poked it with his foot and it was only was when nothing happen did he crouch down again.

The Human picked up the toy gingerly and pressed another side. Roman watched the human flinch when another musical note was made but the human didn’t throw it this time at least. Instead, he folded into a more comfortable sitting position and pulled the toy into his lap.

The toy was designed to get small Mers to get used to a simple concept of causation. They press one side and a note comes out. They press another and a different note comes out. Whatever note comes depended solely on the action the child made.

And, yes, Roman and Logan knew that as a whole, humans were “smart” in their own way. Adult humans could build primitive machines that any Mer could build as children. But, how smart were they really? The goal of giving the human the toy was to see how he responded to simple concepts and then progress slowly. They wanted to see how far his intelligence went.

Logan paused in his frantic typing and glanced up. “See how fascinated he is,” Logan whispered to his partner. “He is so intrigued by the toy.”

He was certainly right, Roman thought. The human was pressing the sides of the cube curiously with his mouth forming a little o. After about a minute of hearing all six side’s notes, the human closed his eyes and started to press certain sides one after another slowly. It took Roman a second to figure out what he was doing, but when he did his jaw dropped.

“Is he,” Roman asked softly, “making music?”

Logan was just as speechless as Roman. The two scientists watched the human press note after note on the cube, making a small little tune that the human was rocking his head back and forth to slowly with a little smile on his face.

Roman never thought that the human would be making music after just getting the toy! Older Mers, around 2 or 3, did that all the time but Roman had been sure that the human would be just like the younger ones! He had thought that the human would just press the sides willy nilly to amuse himself with the pretty sounds but to actually make music! To recognize the different sounds and string them together!? This was amazing!

Logan lowered his pad down and shook his head in awe. “I cannot believe this,” he said softly. “I cannot believe this.”

Roman laughed in amazement. “Looks like humans may be smarter than we thought. We might have to start seeing if he could learn to read at this point.”


	4. Learning the Letters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil is given a new test.

They were loading him into a smaller container, Virgil observed. Not the normal one that they had used to bring him to the place with the strange cube that made music. No, this one had no rails for pulling on it and it was a little smaller so that the most comfortable position for Virgil would be sitting instead of kneeling. Not that that changed much. Virgil didn’t think he’d be able to kneel in the portable container while they were pulling it around without feeling sick.

The merman with the red tail backed away from the tube he had been hooking up between the two tanks and fished out what looked to be a strange looking remote and pressed one of the buttons on it, opening up the tube for Virgil to crawl through. He turned to Virgil and gestured for him to crawl through, chirping and whistling like he always did.

Virgil kept his head ducked but did as the merman directed. His sore muscles protested the movements but not as much as they did as when he had been first taken. The bruises his father had given him were finally starting to fade which left Virgil with one burning question.

How long had he been here?

It was something that was really starting to bother him. There was no way to figure out how much time had passed because, for one, the mermen he always saw didn’t speak English and didn’t respond to the French Virgil had tried in a panic so there was no way to ask them. Beyond the one with the blue tail butchering the words, “he” and “him” in English when gesturing to him and friend, they only spoke in their strange whistles and chirps. And Virgil was sure that they learnt those words just to share their pronouns with him.

But, there was no way of communicating with them and they never took Virgil out of the building he was being kept in so there was no way of seeing the sun. And there was always at least one of them there so Virgil couldn’t figure out their sleep schedule and go from there. For all Virgil knew, he could’ve been here for as little for a day and as long as a three or more.

As Virgil popped out of the tube and made himself comfortable in this new container, he thought about what his parents might doing right now. They probably had called the cops when Virgil hadn’t shown up by morning but he had to have been gone an awfully long time by now. Had they put him on the news? Were cops looking all over the country for him?

‘I guess there is one good thing about being a guinea pig,’ Virgil thought dryly. ‘I don’t have to live with them anymore.’

He jumped when the opening to the two containers was closed and the mermen started removing the tube he had used to crawl through. Virgil huffed and curled into a ball, leaning against one of the walls of his container.

He should’ve never trusted that stupid stranger that night. God, he was such an idiot! Going up to a random stranger and trusting that they weren’t going to do anything to him. Virgil dug his nails into his arms and bit back any tears that might come. Fuck, he deserved to be trapped like a lab rat.

The tube was removed and the blue merman, Virgil was just gonna call him Blue from now on, handed it to the red merman, Red, and swam in front of Virgil’s container. Virgil sneered at him and turned his head but Blue was insistent and drifted a little so he was right in front of him.

Virgil huffed and glared at Blue. The merman looked the same as always. His short black hair was floating up in the water and the goggles that he always wore looked a tad too tight and he was staring at Virgil with those calm, curiosity-filled blue eyes. But, unlike always, he had a little bag with him today.

“What?” Virgil snapped. “Not gonna take me back to that room with the music again today?” He almost wished that was where they were going. That had almost been fun with that little cube that made cool music if he pressed each side in the right order and with the right rhythm.

And the mermen hadn’t even bothered him while he made music. Just wrote down their stupid notes on their stupid pad things and let him make music for a while and then took him back to the slightly smaller container where he ate some fish and fell asleep.

But not now apparently. The container Virgil was curled up in just sat on the floor of their lab and Blue didn’t seem in a mood to take him anywhere. Instead, Blue opened up and little tiles floated out. Virgil blinked in confusion as about twenty-five tiles floated around Blue’s head and Blue started to go through them. He seemed to be looking for a specific tile.

With a whistle of triumph, Blue held up a tile and showed it off to Virgil. It had a little symbol carved into it and, looking closer, it was made of a soft material, like something a baby would handle.

Virgil raised an eyebrow at him. “Um, yeah dude. That’s one cool tile thingy. Real nice symbols.” Blue whistled something at him and pointed at the tile. He let out a short chirp and pointed at the tile again. Virgil blinked and furrowed his eyebrows. “Um, what?”

Blue pointed at the tile again and chirped. Virgil tilted his head in confusion. Blue didn’t stop. He would point, chirp, and then point again. Virgil spread his hands to show him not understanding. Blue pressed the tile against the wall of his container and chirped, almost drawing the chirp out.

Virgil huffed in frustration. What the heck was Blue doing now? He sounded like one of those parents Virgil would see out shopping with his mother. The ones who would point to letters on cereal boxes and say each one very slowly so their little kids could learn to -

Virgil’s eyes went wide and he leaned forward. Was Blue trying to teach him to read? Blue pointed at the tile again and chirped. He was chirping the exact same each time, Virgil realized.

He reached out and pointed at the tile. Virgil cleared his throat and tried his best to imitate what Blue had just done. It was nothing like Blue’s chirp. It was hoarse and it wasn’t as smooth as Blue’s was.

But, the moment the chirp left Virgil’s mouth, Blue perked up and beamed at him. He started to whistle and chirp excitedly and clap his hands, letting the tile float out of his hands.

Virgil flinched and whirled around when there was a long and shrill whistle. Red was floating beside the container with his pad thingy in his webbed hands. He was grinning widely at Virgil and that whistle must’ve either been the equivalent of him shouting in joy or maybe even him praising Virgil in some way.

His attention was drawn back to Blue when he grabbed and pointed at the same tile again, making the same chirping sound. Virgil did his best to copy him though it still came out a little strange. Blue made him copy the chirp six times before he seemed satisfied. And then he grabbed another.

It was then that Virgil realized, this was going to go on for a while.

* * *

“You sure put him through the wringer today,” Roman smirked at Logan. The two scientists were undoing the tube between the tanks. The human was nestled in his pod fast asleep. Logan hadn’t let the human stop repeating letters until he could say the first five letters correctly.

Logan smiled back at him. “He performed excellently.  Far beyond what I expected. I never thought that he’d be able to mimic any parts of our alphabet so soon!”

“It was pretty amazing watching him,” Roman agreed. “His whistles are a bit too high but still. Not bad for a human.”

“Not bad at all!” Logan pulled off the tube with one final twist and pulled it to the side of the room. “And only after a few hours of practice! Extraordinary, isn’t it?”

“It is! But,” Roman winked at him, “did you expect my human to be anything less than extraordinary?”

Logan rolled his eyes and pushed him gently. Roman laughed and flipped through the water joyfully. Normally they showed restraint in the lab and acted like the mature scientists they were. But, the human was asleep, there were no other workers to see them, and they had just made a breakthrough. They were allowed to goof off just a little.

Roman straightened himself and clapped his hands. “Okay! I’ll stay here and watch over the human while you go get some sleep!” Logan went to protest but Roman cut him off with a look. “Please, don’t even. You need a nap. Come back once the bags under your eyes have faded a little.”

Logan huffed but nodded, handing the bag of tiles over to Roman. “Fine. Make sure the human eats the rest of his meals and be sure he drinks all of the water you give him. There doesn’t need to be any more tests or activities today so please try and get some work done,”

Roman laughed and started ushering him out. “Alright, alright, Dr. Bossy! I’ll get all my reports done and make sure the human eats and drinks and doesn’t die. Go get some rest, Lo!”

Logan sighed and swam toward the exit. “You’ll be fine on your own?”

Roman looked back at the tiny human sleeping peacefully in his pod. “Yeah,” Roman smiled, “yeah, I’ll be fine.”


	5. Speak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Human is refusing to eat and Logan tries to figure out why.

“The Human’s not eating,” Roman reported from behind Logan. Logan turned from the tablet on which he was editing a report from their last observation and raised an eyebrow at Roman.

Roman’s tail was swishing back and forth anxiously, cutting through the water, and the red scales on his arms and face were dulled a little with worry. He was holding a waterproof container of Human food in his right hand and in the other was an unopened bottle of fresh water.

“What do you mean,” Logan asked slowly, “he’s not eating? He ate fine yesterday. Is he sick?” He pulled open a drawer from the wall and set his pad down inside. He pushed the drawer closed and followed Roman as he led him from their office and through the hallways to the lab.

“He’s not sick,” Roman reported. “He’s just not eating. I gave him breakfast at the same time I always do, five thirty, and when I went to give him his mid-morning meal, the container was thrown against the wall of his tank.” Logan sighed and ran a hand down his face. He tapped his fingers against the dark blue scales on his neck thoughtfully.

“Has the human shown any signs of stress?’” Logan asked. “Has any other Merperson been bothering him?” Roman shook his head, stopping outside the door of the observation lab.

“The only Merpeople who’re allowed to see him are you and me,” Roman said. “And, yeah. He glares at me whenever I try and come close and he looks like he’s ready to start crying like a guppy.” Logan hummed and took the container of food and bottle of water from Roman, shifting them both so he was holding them in one arm.

“Why don’t you let me handle him? He may react differently with someone else,” Logan suggested. He turned to the door and pressed his free hand against the pad by the door, waiting for it to scan his fingerprints and allow him entry. After a few seconds, the system beeped and the door slid open.

Roman nodded and playfully saluted him. “Good luck! I’m going to set up another test for when he’s calmed down. See you later, Nerd!” He turned around and swam away, ignoring Logan’s call of, “No name calling in the lab!”  

Logan sighed and shook his head. It wasn’t a rule either of them was good at anyways. He just hoped that the Human didn’t pick up any of their words. Logan took a moment to mentally prepare himself before he made his way into the lab.

The lab was large with stations for both Roman and Logan to work at pushed up against the walls and the human’s waterproof tank in the center. The tank took up the majority of the room for enough space for their Human subject. It was the human’s primary tank but there were much larger ones for him in other parts of the research center for the Human to exercise and play in. The tank in the lab was for the Human to relax and stay in when he had downtime.

But, it didn’t seem like the Human was in much of a mood for relaxing right now. The young adult was pacing in his tank with his hands tangled in his vibrant purple hair. His eyes were clenched shut like he was holding back tears. His light blue Human clothes were ruffled and wrinkled.

It seemed that the human was having another fit. Logan sighed and shook his head. He had hoped that those were over after the first week of him being here but it seemed that he was wrong. Pity.

Logan drifted a little closer to the tank and gently laid a hand against the wall of the tank, watching the Human silently. He looked stressed just like Roman had reported but also angry, which was a rarity of the little Human who had mainly been scared for the majority of his time in the lab. Logan hummed and swam around the tank, his tail twitching back and forth in the water.

The Human must’ve noticed that something was different or maybe he had heard him swimming around his tank because the human opened his eyes and flinched back when he saw the scientist watching him. He stumbled back on his legs, nearly hitting his sleeping pod, and Logan tsked. It still baffled him how Humans could stand walking instead of swimming everywhere. It wasn’t their fault that they didn’t have tails but that didn’t mean Logan couldn’t pity them for having to deal with their strange legs.

“Roman said you’re refusing your breakfast,” Logan said calmly. He had found that even though the human couldn’t understand their language, speaking in a calm and measured tone helped the Human stay calm and cooperative.

The Human curled his hands into fists and glared at him, turning his head away from the Merman. Logan sighed and looked the Human over. He had no idea what the Human’s life was like before he had been found and brought to the research station but he was certain that no Human should be as skinny as this one was or have the faded white scars that the Human had on his back and chest.

“You are already underweight. You shouldn’t be skipping any more meals,” Logan continued. He watched as the human spun on his heel and said something back at Logan in a sharp and angry tone. The human waved his arms and then flung them back down at his sides, glaring at Logan. Logan kept a calm expression on his face. “You know that just as you can’t understand me, I can not understand you.”

The human took a step closer to Logan, muttering something at him. Logan sighed and wished, not for the first time, that he could understand what the Human was saying. Human languages were...strange to say the least. Logan had tried to mimic some of their words but it made his throat burn in agony. Merpeople just didn't have the proper autonomy to speak like Humans did. Their only hope now was teaching the human their own language. And while he was making a little progress on learning their alphabet, being able to repeat a few letters back at them, the human was far from holding even the simplest of conversations.

His attention was drawn back to his subject as the Human screamed in frustration and pounded at the glass. Logan frowned and shook his head. Really, what was he trying to prove here? He drifted a little closer and saw that there were tear tracks on the Human’s face. Why was the Human crying?

Logan showed the human the container of Human food. “You need to eat, little one.” The human scrunched his face in what looked like disgust and shook his head vehemently. He pointed at the far corner of the tank and Logan looked over to see his breakfast container was abandoned. Logan cocked an eyebrow. “I thought you enjoyed your breakfast meal. It’s no raw salmon but I was told cooked fish is a delicacy among Humans.”

And that still gave Logan the shivers. Cooked fish. Disgusting. The Explorers who had initially cared for the human had tried to give him raw fish at first since some Merpeople involved in exploration said they saw Humans eating fish raw before. But it only took a few bites for the Human to start throwing up all over his tank. Apparently, it had taken hours to clean properly and it was decided, no matter how disgusting it was, that the Human would only have cooked fish from then on, something that had been in the report for Roman and Logan to be aware of.

The Human just kept pointing at the abandoned container so Logan sighed and swam over to see what the Human found wrong with his breakfast. He lowered himself down so his tail was above his head and he could look into the tank and at the clear container.

At first, Logan couldn’t see anything wrong with the salmon. It was certainly more cooked than any fish Logan had ever eaten, and would ever eat for that matter. At a glance, there was none of that rawness that gave the fish it’s wonderful flavour. But all Logan had to do was look a little closer to see that the fish was nowhere close to being cooked enough for their Human to eat. There were bits of rawness all over the salmon mixed with spots of it where it was just barely cooked.

Logan swallowed down the initial wave of anger that this discovery sparked in him. Who was making the Human’s food and did they care at all that this could make him sick?!

He took a deep breath and brought himself back up so he was level. The Human was glaring at him though he looked a lot less angry and a lot more pleading and sad. Logan pointed toward the container and, when all the Human did was tilt his head in confusion, he mimed picking it up. the Human picked it up and followed Logan over to the side of the tank where there was a little box connected to the tank. It was where containers of food went in and out of the tank.

Logan waited for the Human to put the container of ruined fish into the little box and closing it back up before Logan opened it on his end, filling the little box connected to the tank with salt water. Thankfully, the box was built that only one side could be open at a time.

He took the container of ruined fish, tucking it under his arm, and brought the new container up to his eyes for inspection. He tilted it back and forth and sighed in relief when he saw that this piece of Marlin was entirely cooked. He slid the container and the bottle of fresh water into the box and closed it up. He watched as the water was automatically drained from the box before a little beep sounded, alerting that it could now be opened from the Human’s side.

The Human was slow taking the container and bottle out on his end. He took the container first and cracked it open, giving it a little sniff. The Human poked the fish with a finger and gingerly ripped off a piece. He popped it in his mouth and Logan relaxed as the stiffness the Human was carrying slowly disappeared.

Logan tilted his head at the Human and gave the Human a small smile. “Roman is setting up a test for you,” he informed him. the Human just glanced up at him in confusion, saying something in his own language again. Logan sighed and pointed toward the door leading out of the lab, then back at the Human, and then back to the door. The Human’s eyes lit up in realization and he made a face. He moved his container so he was holding it with one hand and then with the other, mimed pushing a needle into his arm. He raised an eyebrow at Logan.

Logan laughed amused and shook his head. “No. We will not be taking any blood. Your original researcher took more than enough for us to study.” He turned toward the door and started to swim out of the lab. “You will be going through some more of our alphabet again today. You seemed to enjoy that the last time we did it. Though we will be moving you back into the larger tank today so you could make more music once we are done.”

Logan swam over to the door and pressed his hand up against the pad to let him out. He glanced back at the Human. “You were very cooperative for me, little one. It was helpful of you to point out what was wrong with your food.” He turned back to the pad. “Thank you.”

The door had just slid open when there came a noise from behind Logan. A sound that sounded like a guppy trying to chirp or whistle out a sentence, but being far too young to make any proper words. Logan turned around and stared at the Human in shock.

the Human was standing in the same spot he had been when Logan was about to leave with his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. He made the same sound again, a little slower this time. Logan drifted a little closer to the tank, watching the Human’s lips intently.

the Human chirped again, adding a little whistle at the end. Logan pressed a hand against the tank.

“What are you doing?” He asked hushed. “What…?” he trailed off when the Human started to chirp again. It was almost distinguishable this time as an actual word. Logan leaned forward and stared at the Human intently. This was the first time the Human had tried to mimic any Mermish, outside of sounding out some of the letters Logan taught him.

“Thank you? Are you saying thank you?” the Human perked up and mimicked the word back at Logan. A smile broke out on Logan’s face and his tail started to twitch with excitement. The word was mangled like a small child was saying it instead of a young adult, but it was coming from a Human who had, before now, never spoken a word of Mermish before in his life.

Logan knew that the likelihood of the Human knowing what he was saying was slim. It was completely reasonable to assume that the Human was simply repeating sounds back at him. But the Human had been with them for a week now and Roman and Logan had made sure to speak as much around the Human as possible to get him used to Mermish. It was entirely possible that the Human recognized that word for what it was.

Logan was practically squirming from excitement. “Thank you! You’re saying thank you!” He laughed when the Human said it again. Logan clapped his hands and twirled in the water rising up a few feet. He wasn’t normally so outward with his emotions but this was incredible! What a breakthrough and so early on in the research of Humans!

“Logan?” Logan looked back to see Roman standing in the doorway with the portal tank to bring the Human to their “learning center”. Roman drifted a little closer to Logan with his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What’s going on?”

Logan laughed and shot through the water to Roman, grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the Human’s tank. “The Human just spoke Mermish!” Roman perked up in interest and the two scientists turned to look at the Human. The Human shrunk back and brought his hands to his chest nervously. He didn’t say anything.

Roman rolled his eyes. “Yes, after just one session of learning our alphabet, the Human said something in Mermish. I’m sure.” He started to hook the Portable tank up to the primary one. “C’mon, Lo! Stop messing with me.”

“I am not messing with you!” Logan protested. “He said thank you in Mermish! I swear!” Roman hummed and twisted the clear tube that he had attached to the two tanks, making sure it was tight. He took a remote from his station and pressed one button and then another. The water from the tube was filtered out, but how Logan didn’t know. He was a scientist, not an engineer. The two tanks opened up to each other and Roman gestured for the Human to crawl through. “Stop ignoring me, you idiot!” He pointed a finger at Roman at the last word. “I’m telling you the truth!”

“Okay, one,” Roman pointed a finger back at Logan, gills flaring, “we agreed on no name calling in the lab. And two, he has only been hearing Mermish for a week. There’s no way he could be speaking any Mermish. He was probably just trying to copy the sounds he’s hearing.”

Logan sighed and helped Roman twist off the tube, closing the opening to the tanks first. “You may be right.” He glanced down at the Human who was sitting in the portal tank with his head ducked down. He was making little chirps and whistles under his breath. Logan sighed and tried to make peace with the fact that he had probably just imagined the Human saying thank you. He waved a hand at the Human to gain his attention. “All ready?”

the Human glanced up at Logan and nodded. But, before either Roman or Logan could grab the handles at the top of the tank and start swimming, the Human glanced at Roman and pointed at him. He then said softly, “Idiot.” The word was mangled and with the whistle at the end being a split second longer than it should’ve been. But it was understandable.

Logan stared at the Human in awe before he turned to Roman who was staring at the Human with his mouth open in shock. “So,” Logan said smugly, “you were saying?”

Roman slowly shook his head and grinned. “It looks like we’re going to have to be more careful about name calling in the lab, Nerd.”


	6. Selfishness and Hard Choices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Patton got an offer concerning the Human and goes to his good friend for help.

Patton swam into the Explorer's base, waving hello to a few Explorers lingering in the lobby. They all snapped salutes to him in response which everyone did once he caught sight of his dark blue shirt that indicated him as a Field Scientist.

He did his best to ignore their reactions and made his way from the lobby, flashing the ID Remy had given him to the security guard who let him pass without a word. Patton swam down into the back of the Explorer’s base and stopped when he finally came across the door he had been looking for.

It took only one knock for the door to slide open and for Patton to come face to face with Remy. He beamed up at his older friend and waved happily. “Hiya, Rem! Hope I’m not interrupting you on your day off!”

Remy waved him off and grabbed his arm, pulling him into his room. “Not at all, Pattycake. Just relaxing and taking a break from these fucking idiots.”

“Remy!” Patton chided. “That’s your team you’re talking about there.”

Remy shrugged and pressed the button beside the door, closing it and leaving them alone. “And they’re all idiots. Now, don’t suppose you’d be willing to help me clean my tail while we talk, would you?” He picked up a scrub brush and gestured at his tail with his other hand, which had grime and mud caked on it. Though that was pretty usual for Explorers.

Patton nodded eagerly and plucked the scrub brush from Remy’s hands. “Of course, Remy! C’mon, you lie down on the floor and I’ll start scrubbing, okay?”

As Remy got comfortable on the floor, Patton took a look around the room. It was sparse like all the Explorers’ rooms were, with only a sleeping pod and a chest for personal items. But, because Remy was a squad leader he got a little leeway. There was a pad for personal use by his pod and a puzzle game for teen Mers floating near the door.

With Remy stretched out on the floor, Patton floated up above him with his head facing his tail and started to scrub it, starting at the top and scrubbing hard at the grime.

“So, tell me what’s happening, Love,” Remy requested. “You look stressed and it is _not_ a good look on you, Sweetscales.”

Patton sighed. He had thought he had done a good job hiding it but Remy did know him better than anyone. Patton’s tail twitched with a mix of frustration and nerves. “I’ve been given an invitation by my higher-ups to go be part of the team observing the Human.”

“The Human?” Remy propped himself up on his elbows and looked back at him. “Like, the Human being studied by the nerds in the lab right now, that Human? You sure that’s a good idea, Pat?”

Patton shrugged and picked off a piece of mud from one of Remy’s green scales. “I don’t know. I mean, it was just an idea. I’m not one of the scientists studying but I was the initial scientist assigned to him, you know? And I did watch him for almost a full year so I know a lot about him. That was the entire reason I was given the invitation in the first place.”

“Okay,” Remy sighed, “I understand that you were the scientist first assigned to him, Hun. But you were also the Mer to knock him out and bring him here in the first place. Humans rely primarily on their emotions, you know this Patty. He might not be too happy to see you again after that.”

Patton deflated and nodded sadly. “I know. But, what if I could help him? Maybe tell the Scientists some of the things that could keep him calm during tests? And it’s possible that he won’t,” his voice cracked a little and he shook his head, “won’t remember me.”

“Ah, so that’s it.” Remy pushed himself off the floor and swam out from under Patton, his tail still caked with grime. “Patty, you’re attached to him.”

Patton straightened up and pouted at him. “And so what if I am? Many scientists get attached to their subjects during observations.” He started to gently scratch at the light blue scales on his forearms. “That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t do the tests required. I’m a scientist first, Remy!”

Remy shook his head sympathetically. “Patty, I’m not saying being attached to the Human is a bad thing. I’d bet all my credits that those nerds studying him now are attached too. But it’s the fact that you’re letting your attachment to him come before his feelings that’s concerning me.”

Patton balled his hands and glared at him, tail swishing in growing annoyance. “I would never,”

“What if the human reacts bad?” Remy demanded, his own tail twitching in response. “What if he gets angry. What if you being one of his main scientists, a scientist he’d see every day, would set him back? What if he’s not _ready_ to see you?”

All of Patton’s indignant anger melted away and painful guilt replaced it. His hands fell to his sides and he wrapped himself in a hug, his tail going limp with guilt. “I didn’t think of that,” he mumbled.

Remy cooed and drifted closer, bringing the smaller merman into a tight hug. “I know you didn’t, PatPat. It’s okay but I’m not sure you becoming one of the Human’s scientists is one of the best ideas the Higher-ups have ever had.” He squeezed Patton tenderly and kissed his forehead where they were a few blue scales. “I think that you might want to rethink this.”

Patton sniffed and nodded. He twisted his tail around Remy’s and managed a small smile when Remy did the same to his. “You’re right,” he admitted. “I just, I just wanted to see him again and I do think that I could help him in some way. I did take a lot of notes.”

“That you sent over to the nerds in the labs and they probably read over fifty times,” the Explorer chuckled. “And if you really want to go see the Human, ask the higher-ups if you could check in on him during one of his sleeping periods. You get to see the human and the human doesn’t freak out. How’s that sound to you, Patty?”

Patton pulled away a little and smile at him. “Yeah, Remy. That sounds good. Thanks for talking me out of a terrible mistake.” He squeezed Remy’s tail with his own gently.

“No problem, Patton,” Remy said softly. “No problem at all.”

* * *

 

Logan frowned down at the message on his pad. His tail was twitching in a mix of confusion, disbelief, and building anger. He refreshed it again but the message stayed the same. He huffed and pulled open his drawer harshly and put the pad in, practically slamming the drawer closed.

Roman glanced over at him from his own workstation. He was finishing up an observation report. “You good, Lo? You’re going to wake the Human up if you keep up like that.”

Logan’s eyes snapped over the Human and calmed down a little when he saw that he was still asleep and breathing deeply. “I doubt that greatly. He worked hard today on his letters. Did I tell you that he managed to say the word fish today at dinner?” Logan smiled proudly. “And he understands exactly what he was saying too. He pointed right at his fish and said it. It was,”

Roman cut him off dryly, rolling his eyes so hard that Logan thought they might fall out of his head, “magnificent, stupendous, amazing. Yes, Logan, you haven’t stopped talking about it since it happened. Now tell me what has your scales dulling.”

Logan ran a hand down his face. “The higher-ups sent me a message. The field scientist that secured the Human in the first place has requested to visit during one of the Human’s sleeping periods. The higher-ups have agreed.”

Roman tensed up and his pad fell from his limp fingers. “You’re kidding, right?” He straightened up and glared at him. “This is a total joke. The human has only just begun to loosen up around us. He hasn’t even met another Merperson yet. This is just inviting another freakout!”

“I understand that,” Logan snapped. He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “Apparently the field scientist got a little attached and wants to check in on our subject.” He threw back his head and groaned. Logan’s tail was full on swishing through the water now.

“I understand that attachment is to be expected after a full year of observing a subject but why do they need to visit?” Roman demanded. “We could just send them a damn picture!”

Logan scoffed and crossed his arms. “Just be glad that they turned down the original offer they sent them and simply asked for a visit.”

Roman buried his head in his hands. “What was the original offer?” He asked wearily.

“To become a part of our team and be one of the scientists observing and studying the Human.”

Roman’s face turned so red that it matched his scales. “What!? Without consulting us first? What are those idiots thinking?!” He waved his arms through the air angrily.

Logan forced his anger down and swam over to his partner, grabbing onto his arms and meeting Roman’s furious look with his own calm one. “It’s alright. They denied the offer and only asked for a brief visit. And during a time where the Human won’t be aware which will only make things easier for all of us.” He squeezed Roman’s arms gently but firmly. “We can make this work, Roman. I promise you. But, please, take a deep breath.”

Roman glared at Logan for a moment longer more closing his eyes and taking a breath. Logan waited for Roman to calm down enough that his skin colour returned to normal and he was no longer shaking in rage.

“Okay,” Roman finally muttered. “I’m good.” He pulled away from Logan and huffed. “I just, this could end badly. You know this.”

“I do know this,” Logan agreed softly. “Which is why there will be no tests on the day of the field scientist’s visitation. We will make sure the day is as stress-free for the Human as possible. What do you think, Roman? Do you think it’ll work?”

Roman sighed and his tail twitched nervously. “I sure hope so, Logan.”  



	7. The Breaking Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Virgil didn’t know what the Merpeople were planning but he knew it was something big.
> 
> Warnings: Panic attacks & mentions of needles.

The Merpeople were planning something.

Virgil didn’t know what tipped him off exactly. There wasn’t any big thing that clued him in. It was more like many little things. Like the fact that Blue gave him a piece of fish that was a little bigger than usual. Or the fact that there wasn’t experiments or learning letters or anything like that.

Virgil was given some food and then Blue and Red left him alone. At first, Virgil took the day off as a gift and thought that he’d be an idiot to look any closer at it.

But his second meal of the day came and still no experiments came and Virgil was forced to confront the fact that he was born an idiot and probably wouldn’t stop being one anytime soon.

He watched Red working at his little spot in the room from his sleeping pod. Red was floating in front of the wall with the drawer where he put his stuff in, looking down at his pad with his lips pursed. Every so often, Red would whistle and chirp something to Blue, who was at his own spot with his own pad. The two mermen talked to each other but totally ignored him.

Virgil turned to Blue and glared at him, hoping he would gain Blue’s attention by sere force of will. But Blue just kept ignoring him, keeping his eyes on his pad.

Annoyance started to grow in him. Virgil didn’t want them to run their tests or look at him like he was an unusually smart monkey. He may have gotten used to it but that sure as Hell didn’t mean he liked it any. But it was now his new normal and these Mermen weren’t following the schedule they set up for him.

Virgil huffed and shifted, leaning down to the floor to grab the empty container from his second meal. The fish, Cod he was pretty sure, had been good. Or, as he learnt the other day, the two high pitched whistles and a chirp had been good.

But, good fish didn’t make up for making his heart thump with anxiousness. So when Virgil did manage to get Blue’s attention in the hopes of giving back the empty container, he also flipped him the middle finger.

Blue cocked his eyebrow at him and gave him an amused smile. He said something in his strange, musical language which went completely went over Virgil’s head. He might know how to say fish in Blue’s language but hardly anything else.

Virgil huffed and slipped out of his pod, showing off the empty container and pointing toward the food box. By the time he had walked over to the box, bouncing a little on the plush floor, Blue was already there waiting for him. Virgil opened the food box on his end and placed the container inside. Blue waited for him to close the box on his end, the box automatically locking, before opening it up and taking the container.

Blue nodded at him with a smile and slowly chirped out one of the few words Virgil did know. Virgil’s lips quirked up into a little smile and chirped, “Thank you,” back at him before turning around to get back into his pod.

‘Something’s going down,’ He thought as he got back into his pod. He could feel it in his gut. ‘I don’t know what it is, but something’s going to happen.’ But he wasn’t about to just let it happen. But, the mermen probably wasn’t going to do anything with him glaring at them all day. He’d have to be sneaky.

Virgil sighed and nestled down in his pod, pulling his blankets up to his neck. He made a big show of stretching, rubbing at his eyes, smacking his lips, and then finally curling up into a ball and closing his eyes.

It took a lot longer then Virgil had expected, but eventually he could hear sounds of the Mermen chattering and moving things around. He knew it, he fucking knew it. They were planning something. Maybe this was a new test or something. Or maybe they would be showing him something new today and see how he would react to it.

But, whatever it was, it was obviously something that they didn’t want him to see set up. It had to be something big. And that meant that they might be mad if they saw him peeking.

So Virgil kept his eyes closed and kept pretending to sleep. Until, that is, he heard the door slide open and a new voice that sounded strangely familiar. Like, the type of familiar that made the hair on his neck stand up on end. The type that made Virgil’s breath hitch and his eyes fly open.

He pushed himself up in his pod and the blankets pooled around his lap. Virgil looked around the room and when his eyes landed onto the Merperson that sounded so familiar, it felt like everything stopped, including his heart.

Because talking to Blue and Red by the door, was them. The one with the light blue and grey tail and scales. The one who had pressed needles into his neck and brought him to here to be watched like a glorified lab rat.

The Merperson’s eyes drifted over to Virgil. Virgil made a sound that sounded suspiciously like a mix between a whimper and a muffled scream, pushing himself back into his pod. They were going to hurt him, they were going to give him more needles, they were going to hurt him.

All three Merpeople jerked up in surprise. Blue immediately swam around to the wall Virgil’s pod was pressed up against and started whistling and chirping to him a calm and soothing tone while Red grabbed the other Merperson’s arm and started to drag him out of the room, maybe in a hope to get Virgil to calm back down.

But, it was no use. Virgil’s eyes were stuck onto the dangerous Merperson, Needles, his panic ridden mind spat out to him, and could only see them reach out a desperate hand and,

He screamed.

* * *

 

The Human’s scream echoed through the laboratory and Logan was helpless to help him as he toppled out of his sleeping pod and scramble back to a corner, screaming the entire time.

Logan immediately swam over to him to try and get his attention. “Little one,” he cooed, pressing his fingers against the glass, “it’s alright. You’re safe, little Human. You won’t be harmed, I swear to you. Please, calm down. You’re going to make yourself sick.”

But the young Human didn’t calm down. He had curled up into a tight ball and buried his face in his knees, screaming loudly. He had his hands wrapped tightly around his neck. Almost as if he was protecting it.

Logan sucked in a breath, gills flaring. Almost as if the Human was protecting it because his neck had been targeted before. By needles, perhaps.

Logan whirled around, his tail smacking against the tank by accident. “Get Field Scientist Patton out of here now!” He barked at Roman.

Roman had frozen the moment the Human had started screaming, Patton’s arm held loosely in his hand. But the moment Logan made the order, he nodded firmly and started to pull Patton to the exit once more.

Patton was limp in Roman’s grip with one hand held over his mouth. The bright blue eyes under his goggles were wide with horror and guilty tears were leaking out under his goggles. He was easily dragged out of the lab and Logan and the Human were left alone.

Logan gently tapped the glass in an attempt to grab the Human’s attention. “Little one? Can you hear me? I am right here and Patton is now gone. You are perfectly safe.”

The Human kept wailing, rocking back and forth in panic. Logan bit his lip and glanced around the room. What to do, what to do? He needed to calm the Human down in some way but the Human was clearly not hearing him and in no state to gesture for anything. Logan needed to figure something out. What calmed him down in the past?

All of a sudden, it was like lights went on in Logan’s hand and he rushed to his work station, pulling out drawers frantically in search of what he was looking for. Finally, he found it and brought it back to the still crying human.

Logan turned the music maker toy in his hands and, after taking a moment to remember the song he used to play on it as a guppy, started to press the sides rhythmically.

Slow but elegant music started to play, cutting through the Human’s sobs. Logan kept his eyes on the Human and watched as slowly but surely, the wails die down into whimpers. The music had soothed him, just as Logan had predicted.

The human raised his head a little, peeking out from behind his arms. Logan smiled at him calmly, keeping up the music. The Human sniffed and hugged himself even tighter. The poor thing was trembling terribly and had tears leaking out of his eyes, adding to the tear tracks already stained onto his face.

Logan sighed and shook his head sadly. He knew this visit had been a bad idea but he had allowed it. And now his Human was more upset then he had ever been in Logan and Roman’s care. And the only thing that Logan could do was keep playing his little song and hope that it continued helping his poor Human.

The human pressed himself against the glass wall and closed his eyes, starting to hum along wetly to the song. As the song went on, his tears finally stopped his face went slack, having cried himself to sleep.

Logan sighed and stopped with the music, tossing the cube over to his work station. He pushed himself away from the tank and grabbed his pad, quickly typing out what had happened during Field Scientist Patton’s visit. By the time he was done, the door was sliding open again and Roman swam in.

“I stayed with the Field Scientist until his friend came to help him back,” Roman informed him, drifting over to Logan. “He wanted me to tell you that he’s so sorry that this happened. Poor guy couldn’t stop crying.”

Logan sighed and shook his head, putting his pad away. “It wasn’t his fault. We knew something like this may happen. If anything, it is our fault. The Field Scientist simply wanted to see the Human he spent a year observing and growing attached to. We shouldn’t have allowed it or perhaps put more precautions in place. But there isn’t anything we can do now.”

Roman nodded sadly and looked over at the sleeping Human. “He’s sleeping? How’d you managed that?” He hummed in realization when Logan gestured to the toy abandoned on the floor. “I guess we’ve found something that really helps calm the little Prince down, haven’t we?”

“I suppose we have,” Logan murmured. “Though I do wish we had found this out in better circumstances. This may just completely erase any level of trust or ease the Human had with us.”

Roman slung an arm around Logan’s shoulder and pulled him to his side, wrapping his tail around Logan’s. “It’s okay. We gained his trust once, we can gain it again. This isn’t the end, Lo.”

“I am aware of that,” Logan said softly. “But that doesn’t change the fact that this event may make things a whole lot harder.”


	8. Guilt and Journals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Remy picks Patton up after the incident with the Human and tries his best to comfort him.
> 
> Warnings: Crying
> 
> Characters: Patton, Remy, and Logan

Remy stroked Patton’s back gently, trying to calm the sobbing Field Scientist down. “Oh, Honey, it’s okay, it’s alright.” He whispered as he kissed Patton’s forehead and held him close. “It’s okay, sweetheart, you’re okay.”

“I, I scared him,” Patton gasped out between sobs. 

Remy noted that he was trembling horribly and that Patton’s tail was wrapped tightly around his own. 

Patton took a few more shuddering breaths and sobbed out, “I t-thought he’d be asleep! B-but he woke up and he, he was so scared!”

Remy sighed and squeezed his friend even tighter. He gently pulled them further back into the shadows outside of the Science center the human resides in, trying to ensure that they wouldn’t be seen by anyone. Remy tucked Patton’s head under his chin, gently scratching up and down his back as he tried his absolute best to soothe his friend.

Patton’s breathing eventually calmed, and he looked up at Remy sadly, his goggles fogged up from the tears that continued to stream from his eyes. “But, but what if I ruined everything? I just wanted to see him, and I was being so selfish and,”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Remy cut in gently, but sternly. “Patton, you were not being selfish. You being selfish would’ve been you taking that job and not caring about the consequences. You went through the proper channels and you even thought ahead enough to request a brief visit with the Human when he was asleep. That isn’t selfishness in the slightest, Hun.”

Patton shivered in Remy’s arms, tangling his fingers in the other’s dark green Explorer shirt. He didn’t respond, knowing that if he confessed that he still felt selfish that it would just upset Remy further. He felt like a stone of guilt had formed in his stomach, and all he could think about was the utter terror in the little Human’s eyes when he’d seen Patton.

He sniffed and scrubbed his hand across his face, irritating the scales on the back of his hand. He was an idiot, just like everyone had always said. No matter what Remy had said, he still should never have asked to see the human. It was such a stupid mistake. And now he had ruined everything.

“Patty,” Remy sighed, catching Patton’s hand and moving it away from his face. “Honey, listen to me-”

“Field Scientist Patton, there you are!”

Patton’s head jerked up and he whirled around to see one of the Human’s scientists, Dr. Logan he was pretty sure, floating behind him. The other merman adjusted his goggles and inclined his head at him, completely ignoring the fact that he had found Patton crying like a guppy. “I apologize for startling you. I was hoping to catch you before you left.”

Remy protectively draped himself over Patton’s shoulders and pulled him closer to his chest. “Yeah, well, you found us, nerd.”

The doctor glared at Remy before looking over to Patton, seemingly prepared to ignore the Explorer for the time being. “I wanted to inform you that the Human has calmed down. He is sleeping now and Roman is watching over him.”

Patton sniffed again and ducked his head. “I’m so sorry for everything that happened. I should never have come here and it won’t happen again, I promise.”

“It was not your fault,” Dr. Logan dismissed gently. He sighed and pulled at his collar. “Roman and I should’ve been more careful and taken any and all precautions. Perhaps we should’ve put a sedative in the Human’s meal, or something akin to that. Alas, what’s done is done, and we are going to have to deal with the consequences.”

Dr. Logan’s words probably weren’t meant to hurt Patton as much as they did, but Patton could practically feel them digging into his heart. “If there’s anything I could do,” he offered uselessly.

Surprisingly, Dr. Logan nodded. “There is actually. Myself and Roman were sent the reports you made on the Human where you wrote that the Human seemed to have moments where he seemed stressed and panicked. You wrote that sometimes this caused full-on panic attacks and other times the Human was able to calm himself.”

Patton blinked and nodded slowly. He remembered watching the Human from the ocean. Patton had spent many days sadly observing the Human walk down from his den and curl up into a ball by the waves, fighting to remain calm. “Yes, I did. Why do you ask? After all, you already have my reports.”

“That is true,” Dr. Logan agreed. “However your report fails to go into detail about the ways the human calmed himself. It would help myself and Roman greatly if you could recall what those methods were.”

Patton blinked at Dr. Logan and then wiped at his goggles, taking a moment to think. “I, yes, I can do that. I kept a personal journal in that time if you’d like. I kept my report formal and stuck to the facts but I think that I spent some more time talking about what the Human did when he was panicking in my journal.”

Dr. Logan broke out into a wide grin. “Excellent. This will be helping us greatly. We were able to calm the Human down today using music, but it was sheer luck that I remembered how he reacted to it the first time,” he faltered and shook his head, a faint blush rising to his cheeks. “Apologies, I was rambling.”

“I don’t know,” Remy drawled. “I thought it was kind of cute. The human’s pretty lucky to be around a cutie like you everyday.”

Patton huffed out a laugh, at this point completely accustomed to his friend’s incessant flirting with every Merman he laid eyes on. Dr. Logan blinked at Remy in bewilderment, looking lost for words. Patton smiled sadly at Dr. Logan and said, “I’ll find the journal and have it sent over to you right away. But, but I am really sorry about everything that happened. The human, he’s okay, right?”

Dr. Logan sighed and adjusted his goggles, which looked a little too tight to Patton. “He is resting, as I said. I cannot, however, tell you what state he’ll be in when he wakes up. We will be letting the Human relax a little for the next few days, only performing small tests. I hope that this… incident will not set the Human too far back.”

“I,” Patton swallowed and scratched at the scales on his forearm. “I’ll find the journal. Should I have someone else drop it off?”

Logan nodded. “Yes, I believe that would be for the best. I apologize for the fact that your visit did not go according to plan.” He sighed and shook his head. “I need to be getting back to Roman and the Human. I’d hate for the Human to wake up still scared and Roman having to deal with it alone.”

He was just turning to swim back into the Science Center when Patton yelled,“Wait!” Patton froze when Logan turned back to look at him, and Remy gently nuzzled his hair with his cheek to calm him. “I- could you apologize to the Human for me? Please?”

Dr. Logan furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “I will do so of course but, you realize that the Human understands very little of what we say, only one or two words.”

“Of course I understand that,” Patton ground out, “but that doesn’t mean that the Human doesn’t deserve an apology from me.”

They stared at each other for a moment, locked in a stalemate, before the doctor sighed. “Very well, Field Scientist Patton. I will see to it that the Human gets your apology. Good day, to you and, ah,” he glanced back at Remy, obviously fishing for a name.

Remy winked flirtatiously at him. “Explorer Remy, Nerd, pronouns he/him, just like Patton here. But you can just call me Remy, cutie.”

Logan’s ears burned bright red and he ducked his head, mumbling something under his breath before retreating back into the Science Center. Patton huffed and lightly slapped Remy’s arm. “You scared him off, Rem.”

Remy just smirked. “I was just flirting with him, Patty! Now let’s get you back home, okay? Get started on searching for that journal.”

Patton nodded and somewhat reluctantly pulled himself out of Remy’s grip. “Sounds good to me.”

After all, the sooner the two of them could find Patton’s old journal, the sooner the Scientists would have better ways to help the Human.


	9. Update!

Hello, everyone! I have an announcement for the Mer Au that basically boils down to, I’m taking a break from it.

I love this AU so much but I’ve been writing so much for it so fast that I’m getting a little burnt out. So, I’ve decided to take a step back and focus on other things for now.

I am not abandoning this AU but the updates will no longer be a day apart. I have up to Chapter 10 up and after those are posted, I’ll be taking my break. Thank you guys for loving this story and please bear with me as I take a little while for myself to rest up my brain.


	10. Chapter 9: Apologies and Underestimating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: The Human finally wakes up
> 
> Warnings: None, I believe
> 
> Characters: Virgil, Roman, Logan, and Remy

Logan glanced up from his pad and over the Human sadly from his work station. “Just when do you think he’ll wake up? It’s been almost twelve hours since he fell asleep.”

The Human was exactly where he had been when he sleep asleep after his panic attack. Leaning against the glass wall of his tank, curled tightly in a ball. His face was tilted down ever so slightly but not enough that Logan couldn’t see the various tear tracks stained on his face or his red, puffy eyes.

Roman sighed and put his pad away in his drawer. The two of them were attempting to stay focused on reports that they had to complete but neither of their hearts were into it.

“He had a hard day,” Roman said softly. “He’s probably exhausted from what happened. We should just let him rest a while longer.”

Logan nodded and turned his attention back to his pad. “Very well. But if he is not up by the time for his midday meal then we’ll have to wake him up ourselves. I don’t think it’d be wise for him to be missing meals or getting dehydrated, especially after having a panic attack like the one he had.”

Roman nodded and leaned against the wall, scratching absentmindedly at the scales on his tail. “Maybe we should play some Mer music in the lab when he wakes up. He may like it.”

“Or he may hate it,” Logan sighed and gave up on working and tossed his in the same drawer of Roman’s, “and either get mad, cry, or have a number of other possible reactions.” He leaned his hand against his forehead. “Though he does enjoy the music maker toy. We can try it after the Human wakes up and eats something.”

Roman nodded and looked over Logan’s shoulder. He blinked and pointed behind him. “He’s waking up,” he whispered.

Logan stilled and turned around slowly in an attempt not to scare the little Human.

The Human moaned and clumsily pushed himself off the tank’s wall. He rubbed at his eyes and looked around in confusion. Logan smiled softly and drifted toward him. The Human’s eyes were big and he looked more young and scared then the entire time he had been with them.

“Hello, little one,” Logan murmured, pressing a hand against the glass wall. “Feeling calm now?”

The Human blinked at him wearily and said something in his strange language, wiping away a bit of drool on his chin. Logan chuckled and smiled fondly at him.

He could tell immediately when the memories of the Field Scientist’s visit came back to the Human because his shoulders tensed and his head whipped around frantically in search of the Field Scientist.

Roman swam next to Logan and raised his hands non-threateningly. “Woah, easy, my little Prince. He’s not here, I promise.”

“Roman is right,” Logan cooed. He waved his hand around the lab. “Look around you, little one. It is only us.”

The Human followed Logan’s hand and looked around the lab. He relaxed a little once he saw that the Field Scientist was gone and looked back to the two Mermen. He sniffed and rubbed at his eyes.

Logan smiled at him and pointed to the Human’s sleeping pod. “You must be awfully sore from sleeping sitting up. Why don’t you go lie down and rest your body while I put on some nice music. I’m sure you’ll like our kind of music.”

The Human looked over at the sleeping pod and then glanced back at Logan. Then, he mimed pressing a needle into his skin. His face was open with fear and a mix of both doubt and hope at the same time. Even without being able to speak to him, Logan understood what the Human meant; are you going to give me more needles?

Roman shook his head firmly. “No, Hon. No more needles. I promise.”

Logan didn’t know if the Human somehow understood Roman or if the Human was just tired and decided to hope for the best, but the little Human nodded and pushed himself off,  standing up and wobbling on his strange skinny legs. He used the tank’s wall for support as he walked over to his sleeping pod.

Logan followed him and let out a relieved breath when the Human managed over to his pod without falling. The pod was as soft as one for a Guppy so he wouldn’t cut or bruise himself bad but it still wasn’t something that Logan wanted to happen to his little Human.

Roman sighed and watched the Human crawl into his pod. “Well, that worked out a lot better than I thought it would.”

Logan nodded thoughtfully. “It’s possible that the Human is still a little in shock from what happened. Or perhaps he has started to trust us enough to know that we wouldn’t let anything happen to him?” He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. “I suppose it doesn’t really matter. We should get back to work now that the Human’s settled.”

Roman snorted and lightly swatted Logan’s tail with his own. “Work, work, work. Do you really want to get back to finishing reports that badly?”

Logan sniffed and gave Roman a dry, amused look. “Work does not have to mean working on those reports. I promised the Human that I would put on music for him and I would be a very poor scientist if I didn’t observe his reactions.”

Roman laughed and swam back to his workstation but Logan stilled, his own words triggering a memory of a promise he had made almost half a day ago. He turned to the Human and softly knocked on the glass to get the Human’s attention.

The Human made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat and shifted so he was facing Logan. He frowned at him questioningly, though Logan personally thought it looked like the Human was pouting more than anything.

“I know that you won’t be able to understand this, Little one,” Logan said softly, “but the Field Scientist who was the trigger of your panic attack is very sorry. He would apologize himself but he does not want to scare you again.”

The only response Logan got in return was a slow blink and a tilt of the Human’s head. The Human swallowed and then slowly said, “Thank you?”

For a split second, Logan thought that the Human actually understood him and almost had to deal with his brain exploding in shock. But it only took one look at the Human’s confused face to know that he had no idea what the Merman was saying and was just responding with one of the only words he knew.

Logan chuckled and shook his head fondly. “You’re welcome, little one. Now, let’s see what you think of Mer music, huh?”

* * *

 

It turned out that the Human really liked Mer music.

Logan and Roman were watching the Human from their work stations in amusement as the Human bounced his head enthusiastically along to the fast tempo of the drums. He was sitting up in his pod and hitting his hands against his knees to the rhythm. It looked like he had either forgotten about the incident or the music was doing a great job distracting him from it.

“I knew that he’d like this,” Roman grinned. “Just look at him.”

Logan chuckled and nodded. “Yes, you were right, Roman. Perhaps we should make this a daily thing. I think it will dramatically improve the Human’s mood each day.”

Roman eagerly nodded. “Starting each day with this? Sign me right up!” He struck a pose and beamed at his partner. “Maybe I could serenade our little Human.”

“The music is supposed to soothe him,” Logan teased, “not scare him.” He laughed when Roman’s tail shot out to hit him and Logan twirled away smoothly.

“Well, well, well, if only I knew that this is what nerds did when I was in school. I might’ve just paid attention during science.”

Logan and Roman jerked around in surprise. Leaning against the doorframe with his bright green tail swishing around curiously was Field Scientist Patton’s friend from before, Explorer Remy.

Logan straightened and glared at the Explorer. “What are you doing in here?” He demanded. “This is a closed section of the Science Center and is not open, not even to Explorers!”

“Relax, Sweetie,” Remy drawled, showing off a little card attached to a chain around his neck. “I was given express permission to get into this area. Had to go through a shit load of security but it helped that I’m actually here on official business.”

“Official business?” Roman repeated skeptically. He clicked off the music and crossed his arms, cocking an eyebrow at Remy. “And, what sort of official business do you have with us?”

Remy raised his hand and wiggled the pad he was holding. “Me and Patty searched his home and we found the journal. And since Patton trusts me with everything, I volunteered to bring this over.”

The fact that the Human’s laboratory was being invaded was pushed to the side momentarily by the prospect of getting his hands on ways to help the Human and Logan swam forward. “Excellent! I admit I didn’t expect it to be found so soon!”

Remy winked at him and handed the pad over. “Well, I had the incentive of getting to see a cutie like you again so can you blame me for getting it done so quick?”

Logan almost choked on his spit and his cheeks burnt bright red. He never could deal with people flirting with him very well. He ducked his head and drifted back a little, not sure how to respond to that.

Luckily, Roman was there to bail him out. The red tailed Merman swam up behind Logan and placed a steadying hand on his shoulder, sending Remy a blinding smile. “While Logan is rather cute, perhaps we could keep this conversation on the topic at hand.”

Remy sent one last flirtatious look to Logan before drifting back to put some space between them. “Well, Patton looked over the journal and all the information is on there for you.” He shrugged and flicked his tail. “He really thinks it’ll help a lot.”

“We appreciate it,” Logan mumbled, still not fully recovered. He shook his head and took a deep breath. “Thank you and please, thank Field Scientist Patton for me as well.”

“Will do, Sweetcheeks,” Remy grinned. His eyes drifted over Logan’s shoulder and he tensed, grin fading. “Um, the Human’s staring at me.”

Logan and Roman turned around to see that the Human had left the safety of his sleeping pod to stand at the glass wall, staring right at Remy nervously. He was gripping his arms tightly and biting his lip.

Logan cursed under his breath and nodded to Remy. “I think it may be time for you to leave, Remy. The Human is having a relaxing day and I’d hate for him to become panicked again.”

Remy nodded back and turned to leave. “I’ll be off then. I’ll give your thanks to Pattycake when I see him next.”

Roman went to say something but was cut off by the Human knocking on the glass with his fist. Logan glanced back to see that the Human was looking Remy up and down and though his look of fear didn’t go away, he straightened up a little bit and raised his hand up, showing them his middle finger.

Logan had seen the Human do that before, even received a middle finger himself on occasion, but he didn’t know what it meant. He and Roman had discussed it and came to the conclusion that it had to be some sort of way that Humans greeted each other. But with the way that Remy’s jaw dropped, he suspected that he may just be wrong.

“Ex- _cuse_ me?” Remy squawked. “No, no Ma’am! You do not give me that, not in my house, no Ma’am!” He raised his own middle finger and stuck his tongue out at the Human. “How do you like it, huh, bae? Not so fun, is it?”

The Human actually seemed to enjoy Remy’s reaction. A huge grin grew on the Human’s face and he bounced happily on the balls on his feet. The Human clapped his hands once and then showed off his middle finger again.

Remy huffed in mock offence and made a face at the Human. “You’re a rude little Human, you know that, Hun? So rude!”

Logan couldn’t stop staring at Remy in unbridled shock. Roman leaned forward and waved his hands in surprise. “Um, what?!”

Remy blinked and looked over at Roman. He blinked at him slowly in confusion. “What?”

Logan spread his hands. “You know what that means? That hand gesture?”

“Oh, oh yeah,” Remy chuckled. “Well, I don’t know what it means, but I know that Humans use it in fights sometimes or when they’re joking around. I don’t really know what context it’s used in since Humans use it so often but I’m pretty sure it means something like, hey you suck! But it can either be used in a joking sense or a serious sense.” He smirked. “Why? Did the Human been showing you his finger a lot?”

Logan ran his hands through his hair and nodded, fighting a smile. “Yes, yes he has. At first he looked so serious and annoyed when he did it but now, whenever he does it, he usually has a little smile on his face.”

Roman huffed and crossed his arms, pouting. “Well, I for one am offended. I simply can’t believe my Human would use such crass word signs. Terrible!” He glanced over at Virgil and his pout deepened. “Little Human, why?”

His response was another laugh and a middle finger.

Remy grinned and clapped his hands. “I change my mind, this here is a sassy little Human!” He swam forward and pressed his hands against the tank. “Hey there, Sassy! My name’s Remy. Can you say that, Huh?”

Logan ran a hand down his face in fond exasperation. “The Human doesn’t understand what you’re saying. He’s still learning simple words.”

Remy glanced back and glared playfully at him. “Oh no, Ma’am! He’s a smart one, I can feel it!” He looked back at the Human and pointed at his own chest. “You can say it! C’mon, prove the cute nerd wrong!” He drew out what he said next. “Reemmmmy.”

Roman and Logan shared amused looks. They both knew it wasn’t going to work. The Human might be incredibly smart but neither of them thought he was quite smart enough to learn words just like that. It usually took around ten minutes for him to repeat any one letter back at them so the thought that he could repeat a name seconds after hearing it was a little amusing.

So it felt like someone had hit them upside the head when the Human said clumsily, “Remy.”

Logan’s jaw dropped and he looked over to see that Roman had the exact same look of surprise on his face. Remy cheered and nodded happily. “That’s right, Sassy! Remy! Remy, Remy, Remy!”

The Human repeated the name back just as happy and soon the Human and Remy were basically squirming in excitement while they repeated the name back and forth to each other.

Roman shook his head in awe. “We need to stop underestimating the Human’s intelligence.”


	11. Chapter 10: The Musical Alphabet and More Raw Fish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Remy and Patton talk and Roman tries to teach Virgil his name.
> 
> Characters: Remy, Patton, Logan, Roman, and Virgil
> 
> Warnings: None in this chapter
> 
> Note: This is the last chapter I have for now but I’ll get started on it again once I’ve taken a little break. Thank you so much for being so supportive of my break! You all are amazing and I love you!

“He said my name, Patty! He actually said my name! Apparently the Human hasn’t said even their names before so my name was the first one he’s ever said!”

Patton watched his friend in amusement as the Explorer rambled on about what happened when he went to drop off the journal to the Scientists. The two of them were in Patton’s sleeping room, cleaning a fish that Patton had caught for the two of them.

“Oh, the one with the red tail, Roman, I think, was so shocked!” Remy crooned. “So was the cutie with the blue tail! They had trouble picking their jaws up off the floor, they were so surprised!” He cut off a piece of fillet and passed it to Patton. “Oh, Patty, that Human belongs to me now! He is mine, I have claimed him!”

“I think his Scientists would have something to say about that,” Patton giggled. He took the fillet and bit into it, moaning a little at the fresh taste of raw fish. 

“Oh, posh!” Remy waved him off. “The Human loves me and I love him. We deserve each other!” He cut himself his own fillet and tossed the rest of the fish in front of them on the floor. The two of them were curled up next to Patton’s sleeping pod and having a meal before Remy had to go back to work. “Before I forget, the cutie with the too tight goggles told me to tell you thanks for the journal.”

“Dr. Logan?” Patton asked, tilting his head. “Oh, I’m just glad I could help! Especially after that big mess I made.” He sighed and shook his head. “How’s the Human?”

“Well, he was bopping out to some banging music when I swam in so I think he’s fully recovered,” Remy snorted. “He really seems to like music.”

“I’m not surprised.” Patton hummed. He ripped off another piece of fish with his teeth and swallowed it. “He always loved music. It really helped calm him down.”

“Oh yeah?” Remy asked, raising a curious eyebrow. “You put that in that journal of yours?”

Patton pouted at him playfully. “Of course I did! I’m a Scientist, RemRem. I wrote almost everything the Human did down. But, he loved music. He would sometimes have it play from a little Human stick thing.” He looked down and stared at the fish fillet he was holding. “I noticed a lot that he would hum little tunes whenever he started panicking. It didn’t always calm him down but it did sometimes.”

Remy frowned and pulled Patton close to him, flopping his tail over Patton’s. He nuzzled his cheek against Patton’s temple affectionately. “Oh, Sweetie, the Human’s gonna be fine now, I promise. Those nerds are smart and now they got your brilliant journal to give them an extra boost.”

Patton sighed and leaned into Remy. “I hope so. I guess I’m just really worried about the poor kiddo. I mean, I know that he’s being taken care of and everything but he must really be scared with being in a strange place with no one he really knows.”

“I know,” Remy said understandingly. “But the kid looked happy enough when I saw him. I know that it’s probably all strange and scary for him, but they’re all taking good care of him. And he’s learning words pretty fast so communication will get easier over time.”

Patton’s lips quirked up into a smile. “Maybe I’ll be able to apologize to him for myself soon enough.” He finished off the last of his fillet and closed his eyes. “Anyway, what time do you have to leave?”

Remy chuckled and hugged him gently. “Oh, I got some time. You go to sleep, PatPat. I’ll get you into your pod before I go, okay? Catch some sleep, Sweetscales.”

“M’kay,” Patton yawned. He curled up into Remy and lazily scratched at the scales on his tail. “Goodnight, Rem.”

Remy pressed a kiss to his temple. “Night, Patty.”

Patton drifted off to the sound of Remy starting to sing a Mermish lullaby. He rubbed at his eyes once more and his last thought was wondering what the Human was doing. He and his Scientists were probably working on something very important.

* * *

 

“Roman.”

“Idiot.”

“Roman.”

“Idiot.”

Roman jabbed his finger at himself hard. “Roman,” he stressed. He was floating in front of the Human at eye level on his stomach. 

The Human was standing across from him in his tank with his arms crossed stubbornly. “Idiot,” he said back. He tapped his foot against the floor impatiently.

Roman sighed dramatically and buried his face in his hands. “Logan, help.”

Logan didn’t look up from the Field Scientist’s pad but his smirk widened. “Oh, now why would I do that? The two of you seem to having plenty of fun.”

“The Human keeps calling me an idiot,” Roman groaned. “He won’t call me by my name!” He spun around and pointed his finger at Logan. “I don’t know why you’re so off hand about this. He called you an idiot this morning when you were feeding him! I heard him!”

Logan shrugged carelessly. “I suppose it was my own fault for using words like that in the lab. And, if you remember, he also called a Mermaid that when she dropped off the Human’s food. I think he may believe the word means Doctor or perhaps another title.”

Roman rolled his eyes. “But, why?! I mean, it’s an insult. You were insulting me when you said it. How could he think it’s an insult?!” 

Logan chuckled. “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, Roman. He’ll drop it eventually, I’m sure.”

“Ugh, fine,” Roman huffed. But he perked up like he had an idea and turned back to the Human. He pointed at himself again and raised an eyebrow.

“Idiot,” Virgil said again but Roman immediately shook his head. The Human furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head in confusion. “Idiot?”

“No,” Roman said firmly, shaking his head.

“No?” The Human repeated, eyes lighting up in understanding. No was one of the few words he actually understood. “No idiot?”

“No idiot,” Roman said with a nod. “Roman. Roooomaaaaaan.”

The Human pursed his lips and pointed at Roman nervously. “Roman? No idiot?”

Roman clapped his hands happily. “No idiot! Roman!”

“Roman!” The Human repeated eagerly. “No idiot!”

Logan chuckled and finally tore himself away from the Field Scientist’s journal, tossing it in a drawer, and then joined Roman. “Come on, let’s prepare the tank for the Human. I want to go over the Alphabet with him today. And maybe try teaching him some more words.”

Roman grineed and nodded. “Sounds good to me. Though, I was wondering, why is the Human’s food at your station? I thought you already gave his lunch to him.”

Logan’s good mood vanished and he frowned. “Ah. The fish was raw again.”

Roman made a noise like he was personally offended. “Again? Isn’t that the third time this week?” He pulled out the smaller tank out of a side room and Logan got the tube prepared for him.

“It is,” Logan hissed. “The Human actually bit into the fish before realizing it was raw. I thought he was going to throw up but he managed to swallow it using his water. But this is completely unacceptable.”

“It sure freaking is,” Roman agreed, scowling. “I mean, who is making his meals? We should have them reported.”

Logan sighed and got to work hooking up the tube. “I sent it a report to our higher-ups and I truly hope something is done. Thus far, it has only happened whenever this one Mermaid is making the Human’s food. I hope it is just carelessness and not malice. Though, I truly cannot stand carelessness.”

The two tanks were hooked up to each other and Roman sighed, starting the draining process. “Well, either way, it’s still something we’re going to have to stop. I think Nate would riot if we brought him in just to teleport vomit.”

Logan had to choke back a snort at that mental image and nodded. “He would, wouldn’t he?” He waited for Roman to open up the tanks to each other and then waved for the Human to join them. “Let’s go, Little one! Time to learn more letters today!”

It didn’t take more encouragement than that for the Human to rush over from where he was standing and watching them to slip into the tube and start crawling through.

“Well, he looks okay now,” Roman shrugged.

“Yes, only because I gave him the biggest fillet of fish I could find in apology,” Logan chuckled. “It seemed to calm his ire so I suppose it was a worthwhile trade.”

“Guess so,” his partner agreed.

The Human made himself comfortable in his smaller tank and Roman quickly unhooked it from his primary one while Logan went to get the small bag of letter tiles to go through with his little Human. 

By the time he returned, the Human was leaning against one of the sides of the tank and was already chirping and whistling under his breath. Logan grinned when he realized that the little one was going through the alphabet in preparation. It sounded musical almost with the way he was drawing out the letters.

Logan suddenly remembered something that he read in the Field Scientist’s journal.

_ The Human likes to sing and hum in times of stress,  _ the Field Scientist had written.  _ He seems to really enjoy it and it helps to calm him down. _

A thought occurred to him and he took a few seconds to weigh the pros and cons before deciding to go through with it. Logan took a deep breath, and then started to sing the alphabet to the Human. It was something he hadn’t done since he was a guppy himself.

The Human stopped what he was doing and stared at Logan in shock. Logan could feel Roman’s eyes on him as well but kept singing, keeping his eyes on the little Human in front of him.

After a moment of hesitation, the Human started singing along, though his words were a bit clumsier than Logan’s smooth one’s. The song ended with Logan beaming at the Human and the Human giving Logan a shy smile. 

Logan decided that singing would be another thing to write down that calmed the Human. Right beside his music toy.

  
  



	12. Chapter 11: Learned Words and Leaked Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Virgil starts learning new words and Roman has bad news for his partner.
> 
> Characters: Logan, Roman, and Virgil
> 
> Warnings: Raw fish and swearing

Virgil watched Blue intently as he showed him another tile. He scrunched up his face in concentration before whistling shortly. Blue grinned at him and nodded, showing Virgil that he had given the right answer.

The two of them were going through the Merpeople’s alphabet again. This time, however, Blue had mixed up the tiles and were showing Virgil them at random. He didn’t know if he was doing this is just mix things up and add some spice to their daily activity or if it was some sort of test. But, Virgil actually remembered most of the letters he’d been taught. Blue had to correct him on some pronunciation but he still seemed happy with Virgil’s progress.

Blue shoved the tile into the little bag they all came from and showed Virgil the last tile. Virgil tilted his head and searched his brain. “Um, um fuck. Uh,” he chirped shortly and then gave a long whistle, hoping that that was right.

Sadly, Blue gave him a sympathetic smile and shook his head. Virgil banged his hand against his knee and cursed. So close to getting all twenty-six right!

Blue gave a long whistle and then a short chirp. Virgil huffed and crossed his arms. Of course, he would mix up the order of the chirp and the whistle. Of fucking course.

He had to repeat the stupid letter three times before Blue seemed pacified and placed the tile inside the bag, pulling in its drawstring and closing it up. Virgil stretched his arms over his head and yawned. He had no idea why, but learning letters with Blue always made his mind get sleepy and loopy, especially when Blue insisted on doing it for longer than they normally did.

Virgil waited for Blue to call Red over from their workstation and attach the tube thing to his main container so he could curl up under his blankets and go to sleep for a few hours. But, that didn’t happen. Instead, Blue swam over to his own workstation and grabbed his pad before swimming back.

“Um, what’re you doing?” Virgil questioned. This was new. Usually Blue wrote down notes after Virgil was falling asleep so this was strange behaviour for the Merman.

Blue floated up so his stomach was facing the floor and gently laid his pad on the ground. He smiled at Virgil reassuringly and then pointed at himself, raising a questioning eyebrow.

Virgil pouted and pointed back at his main container. “Dude, it’s sleeping time. I’m tired, can’t we do this when I’m actually running at full speed?”

Blue shook his head in amusement and pointed himself again. Virgil huffed but quickly realized what the merman was doing. He wanted Virgil to say his name.

Virgil rubbed at his eyes before whistling out the Merman’s name. Blue lit up and clapped his hands, nodding excitedly. Virgil felt a spark of pride start to warm him and he bit back a smile. The Merpeople’s language was coming easier to him and his vocabulary was expanding each day. He could now say Blue and Red’s name, which he was starting to refer to in his head by their Mermish equivalent, and a few other choice words.

Virgil leaned forward and pointed at Blue, whistling his name again. Blue nodded happily and then turned his pad around so Virgil could see it. There was a picture of a boat on the screen and when Blue pointed at it, he gave two long chirps.

Well, this was a game that Virgil knew pretty well. He copied the chirps, trying to burn those chips into his mind as the word boat. He had to say the word boat in Blue’s language about five times before Blue allowed him to stop. Blue reopened the bag and took out a few tiles. He arranged them in front of Virgil’s tank and said each of the letters slowly and then chirped out boat again.

It took a moment for Virgil to realize what Blue was doing and then when he did, Virgil broke out into a wide grin. Finally, he was learning how to use the letters he’d been learning to actually learn how to spell words! Maybe he’d be able to actually be able to talk to these Mermen soon and ask them, while they all seemed perfectly nice and nicer than his family, could they please let him out of this fucking tank?

Or at least make sure his next piece of fish wasn’t raw?

* * *

 

“We’ve got a little problem.”

Logan looked up from his pad. He was documenting the session he had had with their Human. It had been very successful and he had finished it feeling better than he had in a long while.

The feeling melted away when he saw the look on Roman’s face.

“What’s the problem?” Logan asked, letting go of his pad and letting it float up. He could retrieve it later.

Roman sighed and swam away from the door and leaning against the wall by Logan’s work station. “You know how we’ve been keeping it under wraps that we have the Human here? So no one would freak out about a Human being here?”

Logan nodded, cocking an eyebrow. “Yes, I do. Why do you ask, Roman?”

Roman winced. “Yeah, the information’s been leaked.”

Logan jerked up, his tail swishing in shock and rising nervousness and anger. “What?! But this has always been a private observation?! How did the public find out about him?”

“I don’t know,” Roman said, shaking his head in irritation. He glanced over to the Human’s pod, checking that the Human was fast asleep before continuing. “I know it wasn’t me or you, and Patton seems way too fond of him to spill the beans about him. Remy’s basically claimed him as his own so I doubt it was him or any of the Explorers who knew about him. Remy would kill them if they even thought about it.”

Logan ran his hands over his arms, tapping hard against his scales. “Okay,” he hissed out, “we can figure out who did this later. The real question is, how is the public reacting to this?”

Roman spread his hands. “Well, it’s leaning toward sympathy for our Human right now. Most of the population thinks that having a Human down here and learning from us is revolutionary. They think that we should keep treating the Human exactly as we have been.”

Logan nodded slowly and waved for Roman to continue. Roman hesitated for a moment for continuing, “The rest think that the Human should be bought out of his tank to drown.

Roman’s words hit Logan like a whale. “What?! But,” Logan shook his head dumbly, “why? He’s just a guppy! Why would they want him dead?”

“Because he’s a Human,” Roman explained. “Apparently they think that since Humans aren’t as,” he made air quotes with his fingers and rolled his eyes at what he said next, “smart as us and are much lesser than Merpeople, he shouldn’t be down here and be put down.”

Fury ripped through Logan and he snarled, “Are they morons? This study has already shown that Humans are so much smarter than we already suspected! And even if they weren’t, it’s obvious from what we’ve seen that they’re an intelligent species! No Human deserves such a fate, especially our Human!”

Roman tried to soothe him, “Logan-”, but was cut off by Logan.

“No! I refuse to have them hurt this Human in any way shape or form,” Logan snapped out. He gestured around the lab wildly. “This is a safe place for the young Human and it will not become a place that he fears for his life each day!”

“I agree with you,” Roman shot back, voice just as hard. “But could you calm down? You’re going to wake the Human up at the rate you’re going!”

Logan immediately froze, looking over at the little Human, hoping that he wouldn’t see the Human staring at him in fear, and relaxed when he saw that the Human was still nestled in his blankets and was in a deep sleep.

“Apologies,” he muttered. “I lost control of myself there.”

Roman sighed and pushed himself on the wall he had been leaning on and drifted over to Logan. He pulled him into a tight hug and wrapped his tail around his friend and partner’s, an intimate gesture that neither of them did often. Logan tensed for a moment before hugging Roman back and burying his face in Roman’s shoulder.

“I understand,” Roman murmured, “and we’ll be putting a whole lot of safety measures up, I promise. And we can go over all of the scientists who help out with the Human’s food. It has to be one of them who’s leaked the information about him.”

Logan’s breath hitched and he glanced over to his work station, where a container holding a half-cooked piece of fish sat. “I think I know where to start.”


	13. Chapter 12: The Fallout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Everyone deals with the fallout of the information about the Human being leaked.
> 
> Warnings: Prejudice against Humans.
> 
> Characters: Patton, Roman, Nate, and Logan.

Patton watched the protesters surrounding the science center from his position in the shadows of a shop far enough away from the protesters that the protesters wouldn’t notice the dark blue of his shirt or recognize him as the field scientist that brought the Human down to Atlantis if they happened to see him.

The protesters were a small group if Patton was looking at the whole of Atlantis. Really, when looking at the one million something Merpeople who lived in Atlantis, one or two thousand weren’t anything. So many people were just as excited as Patton was about a Human being down in their city with them. Knowing that the Human was learning their language, their customs, their way of life and so many other things sent the majority of Merpeople into a speer of happiness.

But, looking out at the mass of protesters now with their large pads with the words, “Kill the Human!”, “Let the animal drown!”, and “Atlantis is NOT for Humans!” made something in Patton squirm. He could barely listen to their ugly screaming without wanting to cry.

They were talking about an intelligent creature here with thoughts, emotions, and a conscious! And, even if Humans didn’t have these things, that didn’t mean that they deserved to be killed!

Patton winced at a statement screamed out by a Merwoman, “Let the Human come talk for itself!”, and watched her swim forward only to be stopped by a guard grabbing her by the arm and pushing her back. Guards were surrounding the Science Center, only allowing workers to enter and blocking anyone else entry.

He hugged himself around the middle with one hand and grabbed anxiously at the fins of his tail with the other. This was all his fault for bringing the Human down here in the first place. He was sure that the poor kiddo would be happy and safe here, far away from his pod that had hurt him and abandoned him on the beach. But, with everything that was happening with the protesters, Patton was starting to think that he had made a huge mistake.

Patton was drawn out of his thoughts from his communicator giving a series of high pitched beeps. He squeaked in shock and pulled it out before anyone could hear him and answered it, holding it up to his ear. “Field Scientist Patton.”

“Hello, Field Scientist Patton,” came a familiar voice on the other end. “This is Dr. Logan. I’m not sure if you remember me but,”

Patton cut him off, “You’re one of the Human’s scientists.” Patton looked around and pushed away from his hiding spot in the shadows of the shop to get away from the protesters and to his home. This was one conversation he didn’t want them to hear. “How did you get this number?”

Dr. Logan chuckled. “Your friend, Explorer Remy gave it to me just in case I had any questions about the Human. And while I don’t, I thought that you’d like an update about the Human, especially after recent events.”

“I’d love some,” Patton said firmly. He hesitated briefly before blurting out, “Do you think we’ve, do you think I’ve made a mistake? Bringing the Human down here?”

Dr. Logan’s answer was immediate. “Of course not. Field Scientist Patton,”

“Patton,” Patton interrupted. “Call me Patton.”

“Patton then,” Dr. Logan continued, “you bringing the Human may have just saved his life. The injuries he had, while not immediately life-threatening, may have become so if you didn’t have him brought down here for treatment. As for us studying the young Human, we have already learnt much more than I ever thought we would. I swear to you that the Human is safe with us. He will not be harmed by the protesters.”

Patton finally got to his home and rushed inside, the door sliding closed behind him. “How can you be sure?” Patton asked, his voice getting a little shrill.

“Because the Science Center is being guarded at every entrance at all hours of the day,” Dr. Logan explained. “Also, all workers that had any sort of contact with the Human has been either transferred or fired outright and replaced with new, trustworthy people. I believe that we’ve discovered the person who informed the public about the Human and she will be fired and barred from working at any Science Center again.”

“Will, that be enough?” Patton asked. His tail was swishing through the water anxiously and slapping against one of the walls of his home. “Is there a plan to get the Human out to in case something happens?”

Dr. Logan sighed and said, “Of course there is. I truly hope that you understand why I cannot give you this information over the communicator.”

“I understand,” Patton said softly. “Just, please keep the Human safe. I don’t think I could handle it if I heard that he got hurt.”

Dr. Logan’s voice was hard and firm when he next spoke. “The Human’s safety is our main priority. I swear to you, he will not come to harm as long as me and Roman are his handlers.”

Some of Patton’s nerves eased a little. Despite everything, Patton believed fully that those two Scientists would risk life and tail to save their little Human. “Okay. Thank you, Dr. Logan.”

“I thank you as well, Patton,” Dr. Logan said, voice softening a little. “And, please, if I have your permission to call you by your name then you have my permission to call me Logan. Good day”

Patton didn’t have a chance to say anything else before Logan hung up and the communicator gave a final beep. He sighed and tucked his communicator back into the pouch on his belt. Worrying anymore about this wasn’t going to do anything. The Human was safe and wasn’t going to be hurt by those protesters.

He hoped so anyway.

* * *

 

“Traitor!”

“Human lover!”

“Go live with them if you like Humans so much! Leave Atlantis out of it!”

Roman kept his eyes straight ahead as he swam through the crowd of protesters to the Science Center. A circle of guards surrounded him, pushing any protesters who tried to grab at him back.

The lead guard pushed them through the last of the protesters and Roman swam into the Science Center, ignoring the yells behind him. The doors slid shut and the yells were abruptly cut off.

Roman sighed and rubbed at his eyes. Really, was having a Human down here that big of a deal that people really thought that killing him was necessary? How was teaching a Human their way of life a threat for Mersociety? Roman just didn’t understand.

“Roman!”

He barely got a second before he was being tackled and flipping through the water with a body latched onto his. Roman yelped and looked down to see Nate grinning back up at him. “Nate!” Roman hugged his friend tight, wrapping his tail around Nate’s. “What are you doing here?”

Nate shrugged and his grin widened. “I have no idea, Ro! All I know is that I was called down here and given room to live in for a while.”

Roman frowned in confusion. “You were given a room? But, why?”

“I called him here.”

Nate and Roman separated, looking around to see Logan swimming toward them. His goggles looked tighter than usual like he had tightened them too much by accident because of stress. There were bags under his eyes and his scales looked dulled a little from lack of sleep.

“You called him here?” Roman asked. “Why? We don’t have any tests that we need him for right now.”

Logan scowled like he was annoyed that Roman didn’t see what he saw. “Look outside, Roman. We have more than a thousand protesters there who are more willing to kill our little Human if they had the chance. If push comes to shove, Nate will use his Molecular Teleportation to take the Human from his tank and to his portable one, giving him and the Human time to make an escape and us to hold him off.”

Nate frowned a little. “You sure that’s a good idea, Lo? Like, I’ve teleported Mers before, after years of studying our biology, but never Humans. How different would it be?”

Logan rubbed at his face and sighed, tail twitching in both irritation and stress. “If I’m being honest, Nate, I really don’t know. But I have diagrams of Humans and their bodies to look over, along with a scanned diagram of our Human. You’ll need to study hard in case you’re ever needed.”

Nate straightened a little and nodded. “I understand. Give me the diagrams and I’ll study them until I know the Human body inside and out. It’d be nice if you could give me some time with the Human so I could watch how he moves and get used to the feel of him.”

“Done,” Logan said immediately. “For now, the diagrams are in your room. I’ll show you to them and then,” he looked at Roman, “we have been tasked with firing someone.”

Roman pursed his lips and drifted a little closer, tail twitching in curiosity. “We have? I thought everyone who had jobs connected with the Human was already fired or transferred.”

“Everyone but one,” Logan said coldly. “We’re firing the Merwoman who leaked this information about the Human.”

Roman’s breath hitched. “We have proof it was her?”

Logan nodded and turned around, starting down the hallways towards Nate’s room. Nate and Roman quickly followed. “We do. She was heard by some lower level workers speaking to her friends by her home about it, sounding quite angry and disgusted too. It quickly spread but it originated from her.” His face hardened. “She is the reason our Human is in danger.”

A spark of anger grew in Roman’s chest. “Then, I think it’s time the three of us had a little chat.”


	14. Chapter 13: The Conversation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Logan and Roman finally have that conversation with the Merwomen responsible for everything that has been happening.
> 
> Characters: Logan, Roman, and my OC, More.
> 
> Warnings: Swearing, talk of extinct animals and pollution in the seas.

The Merwoman was already packing her things when Logan and Roman found her. She didn’t even turn around from her work station to ask, “How many protesters are out there?”

The door slid closed behind Roman and Logan and the Merwoman kept her back to them. Logan narrowed his eyes at her rudeness and swam around her work station to face her. Roman stayed at the door to block her if she tried to leave the room before their conversation was over. Both of the Scientists’ tails were swishing through the water in growing anger. The Merwoman’s red and black tail swayed back and forth, showing that she was completely at ease with what was happening.

“Around a thousand,” Logan said coldly. “Did you expect more or less when you told your friends of our Human, Scientist?”

The Merwoman finally looked up to meet Logan’s eyes with her own green ones. She raised an eyebrow at brushed aside a lock of her long, red hair from her face. “My name is More. Actually, I’m surprised that so many people okay with filth dirtying our beautiful city.”

Roman’s tail slammed against the door and he straightened. He glared at More and hissed out through his teeth, “Filth? You dare call our Human filth? He has done nothing to us, to deserve such treatment.”

More sniffed and shook her head in, what Logan bristled at, pity and competent. “Have you even bothered to hear our complaints or do you simply refuse to believe that we could be right about this?”

Logan’s gills flared and he clasped his hands behind his back, forcing his anger down. “Very well, Scientist More. Will you explain your point of view so we can properly understand why you have endangered our Human?”

More’s lips curled into a sneer. “Our human, hmm? You sure seem attached to this subject.”

“Stop being a sea witch and get to the point,” Roman hissed.

More glared at him over his shoulder. “Your attachment to the Human is blinding you,” she said softly, but with barely hidden anger. “Do you not remember just how badly Humans have damaged our ocean with their primitive selves? How many species are almost gone because of them?”

Logan stiffened and he could see his partner do the same. “Of course we are aware,” he said slowly. “However, our Human is more than his species and the mistakes they’ve made-”

“Sea Turtles!” She cried out abruptly. “Dying because they consume the human’s waste! Seals and Sea Lions! Hammerhead Sharks are dying because Humans track them down to cut their fins off and leave them to drown!” More spun around and pinned Roman with her passionate glare. “They are a disease.”

Roman’s hands clenched at his sides. “Humans have done many terrible things to our home and the other creatures living in it,” he agreed. “You won’t find any disagreements here. But not all humans are like that.”

“Roman is correct,” Logan said, jumping in because More could start again. “There are many humans who have been seen saving sea creatures such as the ones you’ve mentioned, and many others.”

“And that corrects all the wrong they’ve done?” She asked shrilly. “All the species they’ve endangered? All the waters they’ve ruined with their black poison that chokes all who it touches?”

More threw her hands up in the air and spun through the water. Her tail was twitching and swishing through the air madly. “We’re having to abandon cities and towns to save our population from these monsters and you’ve taken one in and treated it like a guppy! The two of you are treating it like it’s a member of your clan! Dear Poseidon, you’re teaching it our language and our grammar!”

A shiver went down Logan’s spine and he met Roman’s eyes. He was stiff and looked almost scared at what More was saying. “How do you know this? This information has been kept to only myself and Roman. Lower level workers like yourself shouldn’t be aware of this private information.”

More laughed, high pitched and a touch mad. “You really think that we don’t listen to the Human whenever we drop off its food? I heard that it said an actual sentence a few days ago.” She turned her head to sneer at Logan. “You must be so proud.”

Logan remembered that. The human had been going through lessons of grammar and sentence structure ever since the information about him in Atlantis had been made public and he had managed to ask Logan, “Me want music.” The Mermish had been terribly broken and Logan corrected him on the proper way to say what he had been trying to convey. But he was learning and Logan had been so proud of his Human.

And now More was saying that it was disgusting for him to be doing so.

“I understand your concerns, Scientist More,” Logan said, redirecting the conversation back to where it had been before More started talking about their Human and his lessons, “however, they are unfounded. These new generations of Humans have been seen to be trying to stop the pollution and killing of sea creatures. And we will make sure that this Human is no different.”

More drifted closer, tail smacking against Logan’s in an aggressive move. “That is a risky move.”

Logan’s didn’t back down. “One that I’m willing to make.”

More looked him dead in the eyes and hissed out, “Not if he drowns in our waters before you can continue making it.”

The two of them were locked in a battle of wills for about a minute. Logan’s tail was almost deadly still in the water, contract to More’s wildly swishing tail. Finally, Logan said clearly and with forced calm in his voice, “You are fired. I want you gone by the hour. We’ll be taking over cooking our Human’s food. You are not wanted here anymore.”

“Good,” More spat. She picked up the metal box of her belongings and stormed to the exit, glaring at Roman as she approached. “I wouldn’t want to be in this Human infected Center for a second longer. I’ll be transferring to a new Center-”

“You leaked private information about a subject that is very physically, emotionally, and mentally fragile,” Roman snorted, getting out of her way. “You really think any Center would have you after this?” He grinned toothily at her, showing off his sharp teeth. “I wish you all the best in finding this magical Center! Though, I doubt one truly exists!”

More’s sneer shifted into a scowl. “I wonder,” she hissed, “just how long you’ll be able to protect your precious Human from the truth of just how much we all want him dead.”

The door that slid shut behind her was near silent but, to Logan, it felt like it slammed shut, accompanying the sinking of Logan’s heart. He looked over to Roman and grimaced. “Now this,” he said, waving a hand at the door More had gone through, “is a problem.”


	15. Chapter 14: Preparing For A Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: More finds the room with the Human in it and Patton returns the Science Center.
> 
> Characters: Patton, Nate, and my OC More

More swam through the center angrily, her tail swishing so aggressively that no Merpeople dared to come near her. She was holding the box of all her personal items so tightly that she wouldn’t have been surprised if it started to crack a little.

Five years she had worked at this center! Five years of putting her all into each project she was assigned to. More had studied so many newly discovered sea creatures and had helped so many. She had been in a position to be promoted to a Head Scientist in a few years.

And now, because of that filthy disease of a Human, that was all over. She’d never get that promotion, she’d never make her clan proud of her accomplishments. No Science Center was going to take her if they were just as weak hearted as her old bosses. More was going to have to find a whole new profession because of this little killer.

More’s jaw clenched and glared at a group of younger Mers who were gathered at the end of the hallway, shooting wary glances at her and whispering. No doubt they were all Human sympathizers and were pulling her once good reputation down to Tartarus. They were just like the rest of them. No one could see why she and every other protester was against bringing a Human down to their home.

Humans had ruined so places with their presence and their killing. More’s mother had been a saver of animals and More had grown up hearing stories of how her mother would try and save so many creatures that had been targeted by the Humans. So many innocents killed at their hands and their poison had leaked into their waters, destroying cities and towns. Why shouldn’t they be upset at the news of a Human staying in their city and learning their language? It wasn’t worthy to even know of Atlantis, let alone live in one of its largest Science Centers.

The group of Mers quickly swam off, leaving More alone in the hallway with nothing but her thoughts. She threw her head back to stare at the ceiling and fought back angry tears. How dare they do this to her? She was only alerting people to the danger that was sleeping in the Science Center. She should’ve been hailed as a hero! Instead, More thought bitterly, they cast her out. Like she had done something shameful. She had been trying to save them! Couldn’t they imagine what the Human could do if left to its own devices?

She snarled and straightened, looking around the hallway in the hopes that someone had returned. More could use a good rant at some idiotic ignoramus. But no one was around. And that meant no one was around to see her realize that she was wandered to the door that was the entrance to the Human’s various laboratories.

More stilled and stared at the door. The Human was right behind that door. Maybe in one of his tanks, playing or being studied by some other Scientist. Or maybe it was eating some piece of fish, a piece of fish that could’ve been used to feed any guppy in Atlantis.

The keycard that More had been instructed to hand in when leaving burned where it was strung up around her neck. She could end it and end it now. Head Scientists Logan and Roman were still probably in the room where they had, unjustly, fired her and they were the only Scientists allowed to see the Human. All of the other lower level Scientists that had key cards to deliver the Human its food had handed in their key cards. There would be no one there to stop her from doing whatever she wanted.

More let her box go and swam over to the door, fumbling with her key card, pulling it up and over her head. She held it against the padlock, furiously hoping that it would still work. She had been fired after all and Dr. Logan was one of the smartest people in all of Atlantis. It would’ve been simple for him to remove her access before firing her. Her entire mission could be ruined before it even started. She waited with bated breath. Whatever happened next would depend entirely on whether or not Dr. Logan or Dr. Roman had been dumb enough to think that she wouldn’t try to remove the disease from her city, one last time.

* * *

 

Patton winced and kept his hands close to his chest as he swam through the crowd of protesters. The guards may have kept him safe, but they didn’t block out the insults that the protesters were screaming at him. They were all so angry that it almost hurt. And knowing they were angry at him for doing his job and bringing a Human down to be studied, hurt. It hurt so much that they hated a child for something that was completely out of his control.

He gripped his pad to his chest and looked around nervously as he entered the Science Center, the screams cutting out abruptly. He had been told that someone would be waiting to meet him but no one was coming up to the Field Scientist. Patton bit his lip and clenched his pad a little tighter.

Thankfully, someone called out to him. “Field Scientist Patton?”

Patton turned around to see a Merperson swimming toward them. He, Patton quickly checking the pronoun tag on his shirt, wasn’t wearing any shirt that stated what job they did so Patton couldn’t understand what they were doing here. But, Patton mustered up a smile anyway. “Hello! I was told that someone would be here to meet me. I’m guessing you’re him?”

The Merman nodded and shifted the own pads he had to his arms to grasp Patton’s. “Yep! I’m Nate. I’m sorta helping Logan and Roman out right now with the Human. Logan literally just messaged me to come and meet you.”

Patton chuckled and shrugged. “He just messaged me about an hour ago too. He said that he wanted me to go over the human body diagrams with you since I’ve been studying it for longer and I might be able to help you. And, you can just call me Patton.”

Nate grinned and took back his hand. “Then call me Nate. C’mon, my room is over this way. We gotta go by the Human’s laboratory so it’s pretty easy to find. Just follow the sound of dotting Mermen and you’ll find it.”

Patton snickered through his feelings of guilt and followed Nate as they swam through the Science Center. He swam a little behind Nate and looked around lazily. This Science Center was one of the best he’d ever seen. It was truly amazing.

He yelped and jerked back when Nate stopped suddenly. “Nate? What’s wrong? What is it?”

Nate didn’t answer and Patton leaned around him to see what was happening. There was an abandoned box full of picture projectors, some personal pads, and other things. It was left next to an open door.

“That’s the door leading to the Human’s laboratory,” Nate whispered in mounting nervousness. Patton sucked in a breath and straightened. Nate glanced at Patton. “We need to get Logan and Roman. Right now.”

Patton nodded, fully prepared to go find the two Mers who, unlike him, wouldn’t send the poor Human into a panic attack. But, that plan was quickly forgotten when the sound of the Human’s scream echoed through the Center and the dull sound of thumping against a surface could be heard coming from the open laboratory.

Patton didn’t hesitate to change direction and swim directly into the laboratory.


	16. Chapter 15: Drowning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: More and Virgil finally get to meet.
> 
> Characters: Virgil, Patton, Nate, & my OC More
> 
> Warnings: mention of cannibals, mention of drowning, and lose of body parts. Please tell me if I should add anymore tags!

Virgil was woken from his sleep by a dull thump against the wall of his tank. He yawned and nestled deeper into his blankets. It was probably just Blue or Red bumping into the tank again. They did that sometimes.

But it kept happening, a dull thump echoing through the room every few seconds. It was close enough to him that he couldn’t ignore it. Virgil groaned and threw an arm over his head. “ **_No,_ ** ” he chirped. Or, at least he hoped that he was saying no. He always mixed that word up with yes. “ **_Sleep. Me want sleep._ ** ”

There was a growl from the other side of the tank that made Virgil’s eyes snap open. Blue and Red never growled or hissed at him, even when he wasn’t doing exactly what they wanted. They were kind and sometimes even amused at Virgil’s rebellion. Their voices never went above a quiet croon when they spoke to him. Who this was, wasn’t them.

Virgil pushed himself up in his pod and flinched back at the Merperson inches from his face, falling out of the pod and scrambling back. The Merperson was floating outside the tank, just a little above his sleeping place. Their long red hair was floated around their head like a halo. Their teeth were bared and Virgil couldn’t help but scream at the terrifying predator in front of him. He had never noticed just how sharp the Merpeople’s teeth were before and Virgil had no doubt that his attacker would have a very easy time tearing into him if they wanted. 

Merpeople weren’t cannibals, were they?

No, no they couldn’t be. Red and Blue had never shown any urge to hurt or, Virgil shivered at the thought, eat him. Even Needles hadn’t really hurt him, though Virgil wouldn’t willingly be in the same room again for a long, long time. But this person in front of him, Virgil wasn’t sure that he would give them the same confidence. 

He jumped when the Merperson slammed their hands on the tank, snarling and whistling at them aggressively. Virgil swallowed and held his hands out peacefully. “ **_No,_ ** ” he chirped out, hands shaking. “ **_Please, no._ ** ”

But the Merperson only slammed their fists against the tank again in response, getting angrier by the second. Virgil swallowed and pushed himself to his feet, backing away from the violent person. For the first time since being here, Virgil was happy that he was in a tank. There would be getting to him in here. He was safe. 

Something that his attacker seemed to realize too because they finally stopped hitting the tank and started swimming around the tank. Virgil stayed in the center, as far away from them as he could get. He smirked when they screeched in anger when they couldn’t find a single weak spot in the entire tank. They had even tried to pry open the spot where the tube was supposed to connect but it wouldn’t budge. Virgil was untouchable.

Virgil’s smirk widened and he, feeling a little braver now, muttered at her, “ **_Idiot._ ** ”

The Merperson’s face shot up and they snarled at them, tail going almost deathly still in the water and their hands curling into fists. The two of them were caught in a silent staring contest, one glaring and the other smirking when the Merperson’s eyes drifted over to the little box where Blue and Red would put his food. Their lips quirked up and they swam over to it. Virgil frowned and stepped back. 

“No,” he muttered, reverting back to English in his nervousness. “Please, please no. Please, please don’t let it open, please don’t let it open.”

It was a tense few seconds as the Merperson inspected the box and their smile widened. Virgil fought down his panic the Merperson opened up their side of the box. He knew that only side could be opened at a time so he wasn’t in danger of drowning. Virgil knew that he was fine, everything was going to be okay. Blue and Red would be coming soon.

Judging by the sound of someone swimming toward them, soon was coming quickly. Which the Merperson, who Virgil was going to be calling Anger, seemed to notice the approaching threat because they got more frantic in their movements, clicking buttons on the pad beside the box quickly and getting more frustrated when nothing was happening. Whatever their job entailed, Anger certainly wasn’t used to this sort of equipment. 

What happened next would destroy everything that Virgil had come to know about his tank, specifically, that it was his safe space. Because Anger swam over to Red’s work station, picked up one of the pads abandoned there, swam back to the food box, and started smashing the portable pad against the one on the tank. Virgil watching in horror as both pads starting to crack, and the pad on the tank’s wires start to show. As soon as they could, Anger grabbed one of the wires and pulled it clean from the system.

The food box on Virgil’s side, cracked open, sending salt water rushing into his tank.

* * *

 

Patton followed the sound of flesh hitting glass, looking into every room he came across. Of course, it was the last room that he looked into that he found the Human and the intruder. And what he saw made his gills flare out in anger and make him rush at the intruder in pure fury.

Because there was a Merperson standing at the Human’s food box looking triumphant as water rushed through the food box and into the human’s tank.

The intruder squawked in surprised as Patton slammed into them and the two of them flipped through the water. They batted their tails at each other, though the intruder’s actions were bred from desperation while Patton’s were born from anger and the desire to get them the fuck away from his little Human.

“I’m doing Atlantis a kindness!” The intruder screeched madly, clawing at his face. “You’ll all thank me in the end! You’ll all-”

Patton cut them off by slamming their head against the wall of the tank. The intruder went limp in the water and Patton let them go. They floated onto their stomach and floated up to the ceiling, red hair flaring out. But Patton didn’t care about them. Because the Human’s tank was already halfway filled with water.

The Human was bobbing in the water, pressed up against the far wall of the tank and staring at Patton with wide and scared eyes. He was trembling and Patton honestly couldn’t tell if it was because of the rising water or because of Patton’s presence. Patton stilled and the two stared at each other in mutual horror.

“Shit!”

Patton spun around to see Nate dragging over a portable tank from the side of the laboratory wall and to the tank. “Tank’s compromised,” he grunted. “And the water’s too high to connect the tube. I’m going to have to teleport him inside this one.”

“You can do that?” Patton asked urgently. He darted over to Nate and helped him move the portable tank over to the Human, who was rising, inch by inch, closer to the top of the tank.

“Molecular teleportation,” Nate confirmed. “I’ve never done it with a human before. I managed to look over the diagrams Logan gave me but I haven’t gotten a chance to watch him or even study the diagrams that closely! Why in Tartarus do you think you were here!? To help me! I’m doing this blind!”

Patton looked over to the Human who was glancing between them and the water in growing fear. The top of his head was only a few inches from the top of the tank. “You don’t have any choice,” Patton said, his tone unusually harsh. “You have to try. You have to do it and do it now.”

Nate nodded shortly and held out his hands in front of him. “Let’s just hope the Human gets there in one piece.”

There were only a few seconds before the Human disappeared. But, in those few seconds, Patton and the Human’s eyes met. Patton tried to send all of his guilt and the apologies he wanted to give the child through that one look. The Human’s eyes softened and he tilted his head up. He took one last breath of deep air before the water filled up entirely, leaving the Human completely underwater and his human clothes flaring out. For one second, he almost looked like a young Mer.

And then he disappeared.

Patton’s heart jumped into his throat and he covered his mouth. Tears burned in his eyes and he started to chant in his head, ‘Let it work, let it work, let it work.’ 

There was a soft  **_“pop”_ ** and Patton spun around to see the Human in the tank, completely drenched and gasping for air, glancing around wildly and in confusion. Patton laughed in relief and his tail swished back and forth through the water. Save for a few water droplets from the Human and his clothes, the inside of the tank was completely dry. The Human was safe.

Patton drifted a little closer and the Human’s eyes snapped up. He tensed up and watched warily as Patton came closer. The Field Scientist and the Human studied each other and the Human pushed himself up into a kneeling position. He took a minute to catch his breath before pointing up at Patton and gasping out, “You? No, hurt me?”

His lips quirked up into a small and sad smile and Patton nodded. “Yes. I won’t hurt you, Kiddo. I’m so sorry I ever did.”

There was a pause before the Human muttered, “Thank you,” before looking away.

Patton’s heart burst with joy and he grinned so widely that he was honestly afraid that his cheeks might just spilt. He only got one more second to enjoy what just happened before he was alerted back to Nate, who was leaning against the tank and floating down to the ground with a groan.

“Are you okay?” Patton asked, swimming back over to Nate and placing a hand on his shoulder. “Should I call someone?”

Nate shook his head with a grimace on his face. “No, I’m fine. I just used too much energy. Besides, we probably made enough noise that someone will be coming to see what’s up soon enough.” He glanced over at the shivering Human and grinned lazily. “Hey, I managed to not break the Human in two. Nice.”

Patton laughed in both mirth and relief. He looked around the room, taking in all of the surrounding chaos. “Yeah, you did. I’m impressed that you,” he trailed off, starring behind Nate. “Nate,” he said hushed, “I think you missed a few parts.”

Nate jerked up and glanced behind him to see three little knobs from the Human’s feet floating inside the tank. Patton glanced back at the Human to see that the knobs had been taken from the Human completely, leaving no wounds or blood behind.

“Huh,” Nate said. He cocked his head and hummed, “Well, I guess we’ll see how important those are to Humans.”


	17. Chapter 16: Plans in The Making

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Logan and Roman rush to their Human’s side after getting a message about the attack.
> 
> Characters: Virgil, Logan, Roman, Patton, Nate, Remy.
> 
> Warnings: talk of drownings & blood mention.

Logan swam through the Science Center at a fast pace, barely avoiding other Merpeople on his frantic state. Roman was right beside him, snapping at everyone to get out of their way. Some Merpeople were giving them confused stares while others had an understanding and pitying look on their faces that just made Logan’s stomach twist in worry.

His pad was gripped in his hands and the message that Nate had sent to him was still running through his head.

_ ‘Your Human was attacked. He’s safe but I need you here now. His tank was compromised.’ _

His Human was attacked. His Human’s tank had been compromised. His Human could’ve died. Logan couldn’t decide if he wanted to throw up or hit someone. He had never even thought that this was even a possibility. Why would anyone want to hurt his little Human, someone who had never done anything against anyone? He had thought that he or Roman may be attacked but never the Human.

This was all his fault. He should’ve been more prepared. What if the Human had died during the attack? Logan would’ve had the child’s blood on his hands and would have to live knowing that the Human had died because of him.

Logan gritted his teeth and forced himself to take a deep breath. Spiralling would not help his Human in the slightest. He needed to be calm for his Human and be able to look at the situation with a clear head. 

But it was hard when he entered the Human’s main laboratory and saw that the tank was filled up with salt water and the Human was nowhere to be found. 

Roman’s breath hitched and he asked softly, “Where is he? Where is he?”

“Here,” A voice called. 

Logan looked over to see Nate, Patton, and, thank the Gods, the Human. Nate was floating in front of the other two with a guilty look on his face and his hands rubbing at the scales on his arms. Patton was curled up a few feet from the portable tank, chirping at the Human soothingly. He wasn’t saying any real words, just whistling and chirping like the Human was a startled baby who needed to be soothed. 

But his focus was immediately pulled to the Human who was staring at his feet blankly. Unlike the last time, he didn’t seem terrified that Patton was so close to him. He wasn’t moving and he was soaked from head to foot. His hair was stuck to his face and he looked smaller than Logan had ever seen. But he was alive. That was the most important thing.

Logan rushed to Nate and grabbed his friend’s hands. “What happened? Who attacked the laboratory?”

Nate swallowed and pointed up silently to the ceiling. Logan looked up and his rage flared when he saw the unconscious form of More being cuffed by security members. “She did this?” He hissed. His hands curled into fists. “I will see her ruined for this.”

Roman laid a hand on Logan’s hand, though he sported the same furious look that Logan was sure that he had as well. “We are going to charge her,” he promised. “Attempted murder, trespassing, we’re going to lay so many charges on her and get as many as we can stick.”

“She got in with a key card,” Patton said softly, not looking away from the Human. “So I don’t know how that would help with the trespassing charge. Did she still have access to the lab?”

Logan’s heart dropped. He couldn’t believe that he had forgotten to take away More’s access to the laboratory. This would have never happened if he hadn’t been so emotional to forget to make sure that the Human hating fanatic couldn’t get into the room with the vulnerable Human inside!

“I cannot believe this,” he breathed. “I didn’t take away her key card or her access. She was supposed to leave it with security before she left. I should have sent someone to escort her there. This is my fault.”

Roman shook his head. “I was there too,” he said guiltily. “I could’ve made sure that she wouldn’t have tried something. This is my fault too, Lo.”

“You can’t think like that,” Patton said sternly. “The Human’s safe and that’s all that matters. He didn’t drown and he didn’t die. I knocked the Merlady out myself and Nate was able to teleport the Human out without any, well, almost any problems.”

Roman jerked up and Logan’s eyes snapped back to the Human to look him other. “Almost any problems?” He asked with an edge in his voice. 

The Human didn’t seem harmed in any way. Aside from being drenched, he looked to be in perfect health. Perhaps falling a little into shock but that was more than understandable. Just what was Patton talking about?

Nate pulled back away from Logan and muttered, “Look down at the Human’s feet.”

Both Roman and Logan’s eyes fell down to the Human’s feet and Logan’s eyes widened in horror. Three of the stubs on the Human’s feet were gone as if they had never been there at all. One of the longer ones next to the largest one on the left foot and the middle one and the littlest one on the right foot. 

Logan couldn’t take his eyes off of the Human’s injuries. Guilt so potent pooled in his gut until he felt like he was drowning in it, an odd concept for a Merman. He could’ve prevented the trauma the Human had gone through easily but he had been sloppy. The Human would forever be scarred by this and that was on his head. 

He had been so wrapped up in his own feelings of guilt that he almost missed hearing Nate say, “I’m sorry.”

Roman’s head snapped to him. “What?”

Nate hugged himself and shook his head. “I, I missed the stubs! I was so focused on making sure that all of his guts stayed inside him that I forgot about those little fuckers!” He spread his hands out and Logan got a good look at the anguished expressed on his face. “He needs those stupid things to walk around! I ruined the Human! I ruined his entire life!”

Logan caught one of Nate’s hands and shook his head. “No, Nate. No. This is not your fault in the slightest. You did your best and both I and Roman are so proud and grateful to you. You saved our Human’s life not ruined it.”

Patton nodded. “They’re right, Nate. I’ve seen Humans without any toes and they’re able to walk. It’ll mess with his balance a lot at first but I’m sure that he’ll be able to get it back again.” He smiled at Nate tiredly. “You did amazing, Kiddo.”

Logan nodded firmly. “Patton’s correct. You have my thanks and if you ever need anything, please, know that you can come to me and I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

Nate nodded but didn’t meet his eyes. “Thank you,” he whispered. 

“Look,” Roman cut in, placing his hands on his hips and gesturing around the room. “I’m thankful to Nate as well and I’m right there with Logan about owing you. But, I think we need to focus here. The Human’s tank is compromised. We have other tanks we could use but this was a lesson on just how dangerous the protestors can be. We’re going to have to do something drastic!”

Logan nodded in agreement. “You’re right, of course.” He looked around the room and tried to think of a plan but nothing became clear to him. He bit his lip and sighed. “I, I don’t know what to do,” he confessed.

Roman looked at him like he had just said something so strange that he couldn’t process it. “Lo,” he said helplessly. “I,” he curled his hands into fists and shook his head, “I don’t know what to do either.”

Patton suddenly straightened from his spot by the tank and clapped his hands. “I have an idea,” he announced. “And I know that you’re going to reject it but I need to say it. I think that we need to let the Human go.”

Logan, Nate, and Roman all stared at Patton, jaws dropped and eyes wide. “Excuse me?” Logan asked incredulously. He clenched his jaw and shook his head. “You must be joking, Patton.”

“I’m not,” Patton said sadly. “I wish I was, trust me. The Human just,  _ just _ , started to trust me. But it wasn’t because I worked to earn his trust. It’s because I helped save him from an attacker. He’s not safe here anymore.”

“We’ll fortify the Center’s defences,” Roman said tensely. “There’s no reason for the Human to have to leave.”

Patton shook his head and drifted closer. “We have two thousand protestors outside,” he protested. “And all of them are willing to hurt him!”

“We’ll move!” Logan hissed, his anger starting to flare. “There are other Science Centers that will be thrilled to house him!”  
“And you think that the protestors will be completely okay with you moving him over there?” Patton snapped. “They’ll overpower you the moment you step out the door and kill him!”

“And you think they wouldn’t do the same if we try and let him go?” Roman snapped right back. “And where would he even go? You want to give him back to his old pod?” He laughed and said, “I’m sure they’d be thrilled to get their whipping boy back. Haven’t you seen his scars?”

“Guys,” Nate said, trying to calm everyone down, but was cut off by Patton.

“Of course I have!” Patton cried. “I was the one who patched him and brought him down here! His pod was terrible and I would never suggest that he goes back there! But he’s in danger here!”

“Well, what do you suggest then?” Logan barked. “What magnificent plan do you have that’ll get the Human back among his own kind but not have him abused!?”

“I don’t know, okay!” Patton growled. “I don’t know but I do know that it’s a terrible idea for him to stay here, surrounded by the sharks!”

“No!”

All of them turned to the Human’s tank. Logan felt his heart crumble at the tears leaking down the Human’s cheeks but even more startled at the fury burning in the Human’s eyes. Roman drifted a little closer, murmuring, “little one,” but the Human wasn’t having it. 

“No!” He snapped. The Human smacked a hand against the tank’s side in his anger fueled fit. “No, no, no! No more! Stop, stop, no, stop!”

“Kiddo,” Patton tried but the Human glared him into submission.

Logan could only watch in rising horror. He didn’t know how to fix this. It was obvious that the fight had triggered the Human but it wasn’t the only thing. The poor thing was gripping his feet, fingers sliding through the gaps where the stubs had once been. He was reacting about everything that had happened in the last few hours in the only way that he could, not being able to speak to them fluently. By lashing out.

Logan grabbed Roman before he could go any closer. “I believe that that’s a sign that we should stop our argument,” he said firmly. He looked over at Patton and forced himself to remain calm. Just like himself, Patton’s argument was bred from concern for their Human. Patton was not his enemy here. They may have different opinions on how to protect their Humans but they both wanted to protect him. “Patton, I apologize for snapping at you. I realize that we’re both trying to protect him. Albeit in different ways.”

Patton sighed and nodded, adjusting his goggles, sending the Human a sad and guilty look. “You’re right,” he sighed. “Maybe we should continue this conversation another time.”

Logan nodded and looked at the Human who glared right back at him with tears in his eyes. Logan smiled tiredly at him. “No more screaming,” he promised quietly. “No more.”

The Human stared at him for a few more seconds before glancing away, tightening his grip on his feet. Logan ducked his head and took a deep breath. He needed to think. People were counting on him to think up a plan to protect the Human and he couldn’t let them down.

Not like he already did. Not again.

* * *

 

“Did you hear?”

“Hear what?”

“Scientist More got arrested.”

“What? Why?!”

“She attacked the filthy Human.”

“What?”

“Terrible, arresting that nice girl for trying to do everyone a favour.”

“I can’t believe that they did this!”

“It’s all that filth’s fault! It’s the one who has everyone confused.”

“We need to finish this.”

“What are you saying?”

“You want to break into the Science Center?”

“To kill the Human?”

“We don’t exactly have any other choice, now do we? What are we supposed to do? Allow that Human to keep corrupting our beautiful city? No. This needs to be put to an end.”

“I, I agree. We need to finish what Scientist More started.”

“So it’s agreed? We’re going to kill the Human?”

“It’s the only thing we can do at this point.”

“Then it’s agreed.”

* * *

 

Remy stared at the group of protesters in a mix of horror and shock. He was hidden from the protesters, listening into their from behind a shop he had been in, buying a present for the Human to distract him from all the tension surrounding him. He could hardly believe what he was hearing but it was true. They were planning to attack the Human. His Human.

Remy was not going to stand for this. There was too many of them for him to swim in there and break up their little meeting. No, he was going to have to be smart about this. He would get far away from this little gathering and then use his communicator to get in touch with Logan. He would fix this. 

He turned, ready to make an escape, but scrambled back when he found three Merpeople in front of him. All scowling at him and all holding pads with the same message on it:

DROWN THE HUMAN

Oh no, this was not good.

“Going somewhere, Explorer?” The largest one growled. The two others dropped their pads and drifted forward, prompting Remy to drift back. A witty comeback was on the tip of his tongue when he glanced back and saw the group from before floating right behind him, stopping him in his tracks. There were around twenty Merpeople surrounding him now. All of them were glaring at him in disgust and hatred, some of them cracking their knuckles. Every single one of them looked ready for a fight.

“So,” Remy said nervously, “I’m guessing you Gurls ain’t willing to talk this out?”

“With a Human lover like yourself?” The leader asked as everyone moved in. “Not a chance.”   
  
  



End file.
